Your Knowledge Base – The Fourth Transcendental Shift
To accomplish the fourth shift, the knowledge you are seeking is about yourself. The goal is to bring from your subconscious the state of in-stroke and maintain it.
There seems to be an unspoken rule that warming-up is unnecessary if you can “really play”. Don’t buy in to this. I cannot count the number of times a seasoned player (who happened to be hitting balls on the table at the time) will somehow fox a challenger into playing with little or no warm-up. The results vary from a small temporary advantage to a complete rout. How many times do you have to see this before you take a few minutes to warm-up?
The value of warming-up cannot be over estimated as you must practice tapping into your subconscious just like you must practice making balls. Most players take a rather hit-or-miss approach to develop a feel for the table and the state of their stroke. What I am advocating here is a more conscious approach which utilizes a technique called triggering. I suspect the most efficient trigger is slightly different for every player. A good way to learn your best trigger is to look for it after every match. Every match has turning points…try to remember the turning points…be honest…there are always triggers. One will make you play better, one makes you play worse. Sometimes a little thought on a trigger will release you. Others may force you to confront yourself. But the trigger we are looking for supports your confidence, turns you inward and gets you in touch with your game. Get to know them by searching for a common thread after several matches. If you don’t succeed, then look at it differently…it’s there. I learn a new ones every year or so.
One of the earliest negative triggers I discovered was playing against a guy I actually didn’t like (there aren’t many). I disliked this person so much; I forced him to beat me. The truth is: I didn’t want to lose the edge on my grudge. I valued my ill-will more than the money or the match. I now find something I like about every opponent and release myself to win.
I have developed a routine to enhance adaptation to the table and some associated mental exercises to get me in-stroke. Below is the checklist that I go through when I get ready to play. I don’t like to play a match without hitting a few balls on the table first. It is a short list of shots followed by the mental prep I go through that will tell me how the table plays and begin what resembles a meditation. I try to regulate my breathing, become aware of the flow of my movements and measure the effect of the cueforce on the elements of the table.
Lag to test the speed and how level the table is. Concentrate on the single rolling ball and the force of the cue. Crosshairs/Elbow drop visualizations active.
This is my ritual. I have memorized the steps and it takes me about 3-5 minutes to get comfortable. My single biggest issue is that I play lazy and see if I can get away with it. I’m not consciously laying down a lemon, I’m just laid back. I need to be prodded to do the work required to play well. I have consciously developed a trigger with this exercise. Can you pick it out? The trigger is matching results with expectations. Early on, I stated that playing well creates momentum. That means I have to trust myself. When I do the work, I get rewarded. The reward is not based on winning the game but on getting the anticipated result. If results begin to fall out of line with expectation, I begin immediately going through my mental list of fundamentals to determine the problem and make adjustments. This helps me overcome difficult opponents/matches because I am able to tell myself the truth about any shot…did the balls do what I expected them to do? It isn’t about what the other guy does, it’s about what I do. I am never waiting for the other guy to play poorly (let me win). I’m not playing the other guy…I’m playing the table and myself. This is not to say I’m not paying attention…if my opponent has trouble with a particular shot, he is more likely to see that shot again. If he has made a couple of really hard, low percentage shots, he is more likely to see that shot again as well. I’m betting that the numbers will catch up with him and missing may act as a negative trigger.
Practice Methods
Fill in the gaps - I know several people who have never understood what practice really means. I think some actually avoid practicing shots that they regularly need in competition. For example, one of the most common shots in pool is rolling a few inches forward after making a long, straight-in ball. I rarely see a player who has mastered leaving his ball in this no-mans-land. This is an easy shot but it is not flashy. I see huge gaps in most players’ level of accomplishment. I stated early on that we learn to do certain things, according to our interest and then build on this knowledge until we reach an acceptable level of play. What I am proposing is to change your focus from what is interesting to what will help you win…fill in the gaps. There is no reason to practice extremely difficult shots if you can’t perform the simple tasks. Many of us will turn a blind eye to simple solutions if favor of impressive yet low percentage shots. This will get you beat. You must honestly assess your game to overcome this. I can remember several specific shots I have made over the years (most of them cost me something)…a high percentage of these shots were quite easy. I can also tell you that I will look back at my most recent match, try to determine what shots I performed poorly and shoot these shots until I am satisfied I’m not likely to miss them next time. This may mean I will shoot the same or similar shot a couple/few hundred times. I can tell you that practicing this way will yield results. After a few years, your repertoire of shots will be ready for some of the flashy stuff and you will have been winning in the meantime. Matches are rarely won with flashy play…they are won with solid performance. At some point, what you may consider today to be flashy play will simply be solid performance…one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor.
Remember, position is the result of planning and execution. These terms are not relative. If you have a problem reconciling these aspects then you have risk assessment issues. To overcome risk assessment issues, you must tell yourself the truth. There is either a problem with your plan or your execution. Decide this first and then make changes. You have to be honest eventually…make it now. Knowing where you failed is the key becoming a better player. This applies to matching-up and competition. Some of the most successful players I know exhibit a high level of risk assessment and it is very difficult to change their minds about a game or a shot. This is commonly known as “heart”. A player with “heart” will tenaciously cling to his opinion while his plan or execution do not align. The difference between the player with “heart” and a fool is the ability to see the truth about his plan/execution and accept it.
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