How can I stay focused in pool??

Question

I used to be a really good player but these days i find it so hard to concentrate, I like start a clearance then get half way through and end up trying to do ma fancy shot round table or something, it is frustrating.

Answer 1

It’s not playing pool that is the problem, its understanding your mind and playing your will. Most people operate their mind on autopilot, letting circumstance dictate decisions but there is no argument that every thought is and should be a choice. If you look at human behaviour, people sometimes make the smallest things most important, and yet you observe this thing is really petty. It’s simply a choice to make something; even insignificant things have more importance in your life. When you choose to make something important, you follow up to focus on it, sometimes obsessively and can’t help it. When you began playing you were unconsciously choosing to challenge yourself against others in competitive spirit to achieve. By choice you made this achievement important. This is the unconscious decision that has changed. If you are still desiring to go and enjoying the night but not playing competitively your unconscious choice is that the social aspect is the most desirable and most important reason you are going, not for the competition. That’s okay, if you choose it, just get with your program and stop worrying about the cavalier attitude to try risky show-off shots that are really only to try to enhance your social esteem if they work; stop worrying about your score or lack of achievement and enjoy your social self. Its just your choice of importance. You can always recover the competitive edge to your game when you decide to change your decision of priority. Only when you change your mind, and decide the priority objective is to be a more competitive challenger, your serious game spirit and desire to achieve and your skill edge will come back. So, if you want to stay focused in pool, change your mind about the priority for being there.

You can enjoy both!

Answer 2

Try to regain your concentration by using something visible like wearing a new ring on your left hand which you can see while you are cueing. This may help to focus your concentration on your game. Call it your cueing ring. Wear it and take care of it and it may take care of you. Good luck

Answer 3

get a good seven to ten lagers down your neck and you,ll be right

Answer 4

If you want to win stop doing the fancy shots in matches and just make the best shot to make the ball.  Maybe you have just grown up a bit and realized that winning isn't everything so you are just playing for fun now and not necessarily to win every game.

Answer 5

You need to play better players as you obviously aren't getting challenged properly. This will give you the opportunity to practice your strategy. Also challenge people for money and then you will be less likely to take flashy chances at the end of the game.

Answer 6

You must keep your eye on the ball!

Answer 7

Give up dating for a while.

:P

Answer 8

Maybe your just pooled out. Try not playing for 2 or 3 weeks then come back and see how it goes. Sounds to me like your just not hungry enough.

Answer 9

You should start playing for like $5 a game or something, putting a little wager might get you to focus more.  I know how you mean though, when I'm not playing for anything I tend to play very loose with the cueball and sometimes not really try.  Not always, but I have done it.  It can be hard to keep a killer instinct when they game is just for fun.  Keep rackn em up!

Answer 10

Practie.

Answer 11

tv

Answer 12

I know exactly what you mean.  I have a tendance to do the exact same thing, almost.  I used to play so much it wasn't even funny, 6 hrs/day almost.  I was shooting tournaments at least 4 nights a week.  I woke up one morning and said, you know, this isn't fun anymore, it's a job.  I hung up my sticks for about 4 years, I didn't pull them out again until I was on my way to the Persian Gulf in the 90s, for the first of 2 campaigns I'd serve in during the first gulf war.  Now I find that I can play very well still, until that first miss in a game, basicly, I find myself playing to run the table, and if I don't I start to lose interest in the game.  At least I'm at the point, where, I'm playing more against myself, than I am the opponent.  What I've been doing to keep my mind in it, after that first miss, is just try to act and think like it's still the first shot, that every time I'm up, I'm out to run the table.  I've also found that I do better with some games than others.  Pill pool, chicago, straight pool, these have become my staples, I will play 8-ball only if I'm out in a bar, and almost never 9-ball.  I think it's more the games themselves that I burned out on.  so if you have some regulars you play with, try changing up your games, play something different, then if you're playing in a tourny, you may not feel so burned out on that particular game.  Good luck, and keep rackin' em and krackin' em.