Everything in life has consequences, so you must be careful who and what you listen to. You shouldn’t even take the advice in this article without actually thinking for yourself, what you want out of poker and in life, and realize the values and attitudes (mindset) required to be successful.
CAN I TAKE A DAY OFF?
Sure, go ahead. I mean you typically get 2 days off each week anyway, which leaves 261 days left available for work. But go ahead, take a day off. But wait, you now realize that you spend 16 hours per day away from work. Of course, nearly half of this accounts for sleep, but still totals 170 days. Now you have 91 days left available for work. Most people spend around 30 minutes each day on break, browsing the web, or basically doing nothing at all, which adds up to 23 days each year. We’re now left with 68 days available for work. If you take an hour for lunch each day, that accounts for another 46 days per year, leaving only 11 days available for work. What about holidays? Well, there goes another 9 days per year and we’re left with 11 days available for work. And vacations? Most professionals get two weeks, or 10 business days off each year, leaving just 1 day available for work. So are you going to take a day off? NO WAY!
OPTIMISM vs REALISM
James Bond Stockdale was a United States Navy admiral and held captive in Hanoi, North Vietnam. He was a prisoner of war for over seven years but eventually made it out alive, coining the phrase “Stockdale Paradox”. He didn’t survive seven years of torture by simply being optimistic, and having faith that rescue would come within weeks. No, he survived by being realistic, knowing it could take years and lived each day accordingly. The optimistic prisoners of war, on the other hand, died from poor expectations and broken hearts. Realists are brutally honest with themselves, yet they still have an unwavering belief that they will prevail. So when you face great adversity, stand strong and REFUSE to fail.
FOCUS ON GETTING THINGS DONE
When Bill Gates first met Warren Buffett, their host at dinner, Gates’ mother, asked everyone around the table to identify what they believed was the single most important factor in their success through life. Gates and Buffett gave the same one-word answer: “Focus”. So, if you want any kind of success at all, you need to give it your undying focus. Or in other words, never half-ass two things, whole-ass one thing. However, remember this: first things first, second things second. There is no other way around.
TILT IS NOT REAL
It’s perfectly normal to tilt because after all, humans are naturally emotional beings. Becoming tilt-free though is about growing up and accepting reality for what it is. If you tilt, you’re essentially being angry at reality. You know that you’re supposed to lose with AA 20% of the time but you get upset anyways. You know that the flush will come in around 35% of the time when all-in on the flop with a set but you get upset anyways. Variance like this can be tilt-inducing. But what if I told you MAKING MONEY is the best recipe against tilt? Put in the hours, put in the hands, make the right decisions over and over and ACCEPT reality when things don’t go your way. We have a saying around here, and that is “Champions stand up one more time than the rest”. So who do you want to be, a tilt monkey who gets angry with reality? Or do you want to be a champion?
CREATE GOOD HABITS
In additional to being naturally emotional, humans are also habitual beings. So if our natural instincts kick in with habitual behaviors, make sure we’re consciously creating good habits. There are literally a million techniques and methods, but they are all bullshit. You don’t have to buy a 400-page book or go to a weekend seminar to learn how to do it. Creating good habits is not super advanced nor does it need to overly comprehensive. Here’s a no-bullshit system for creating good habits:
- Specify the habit and attach it to an exact outcome.
- Start fucking doing it. Track it. And measure it.
That’s it. Obviously, you will need some willpower to overcome your bad habits, but typically a habit becomes automatic after 30 days. So for example, if you need to focus more during your sessions, figure out how you’re going to do that. Maybe you want to play more tables or longer hours. Well, start by turning off Netflix, log out from Skype, preparing for sessions better, eating right, getting more sleep, get a prescription for Adderall, whatever – just do it. Then create a plan by playing 4 tables for 1 hour, then 6 tables for 2 hours, then 8 tables for 3 hours and so on. Use PokerTracker to track your session length and multi-table ratio, then measure and adjust accordingly.
THOUGHTS ON BALANCE
Sometimes balance is good so you don’t end up in a mental hospital. But more often than not, balance is bullshit. If you add one piece of shit into a 100-liter bottle of perfume, the whole perfume is shit. If you want balance, you should balance between the first and second nuts, rather than doing it just for the sake of balance. The latter is for Buddhist monks and losers. If you want to be a monk, that’s fine. But don’t be a loser. Good balance is doing something purposeful that helps you indirectly achieve your goals. For example, hiking in nature will give you strength to put in longer hours and provide for better health. Bad balance is what 99.99% of people do who talk about balance, such as playing video games all day, mindlessly surfing the Internet and basically just wasting time with useless bullshit.
IN CONCLUSION
The ultimate purpose of having the right mindset is to enable you to dedicate as much time as possible to your goals. In other words, put in the fucking hours! Somewhere along the timeline of history, we have become a world of lazy asses with low expectations and no ambition, and worst of all, politically correct losers without any balls. When values are clear, decisions are easy! So before you start your next poker session, think about what you want to achieve. Be realistic, think long term, and create good habits to get there. And remember that everything you do has consequences. Make them good!
