More on the "Zone"

You cannot make yourself enter the "zone" Best you can do is set the scene. This includes hard work, both technical and mental training, pre and post-game routines, and passion (for the game)

The following are not my words. Rather they are the words of a psychologist by the name of Csíkszentmihályi (pronounce it “chicks send me high” :)). I include the link toa public lecture he made in Sydney a few years back.

http://austega.com/education/articles/flow.htm

He identifies the following nine components as accompanying an experience of flow:

1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.
2. Concentrating and focusing, a high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
3. A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. People become absorbed in their activity, and focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity itself, action and awareness merging.

If you only have room for ONE Goal

In a previous post about quieting the mind, I talked about the captain ship and its crew. When the captain is focussed on captain's matters, the crew gets the job done. Likewise, your captain's mind must be on the cards and only on the cards.

SO

If you cannot be much bothered to keep track of your own performance (after all, it is only a game!), then only keep track of ONE thing.

But do it every every time, whether you are playing a practice match, playing a friendly match or playing the real McCoy.

Your performance goal = 80% (or whatever number above 50 you want to start at)

1. Stop thinking about past and the future and become immersed in the now.
2. Stop predicting (going into the future in your mind)
3. Focus 100% on the cards.

And after every game, give yourself a score of 1 to 3.

1. why did you get up this morning
2. next time will be better
3. you were in the zone
   

When you get to a hundred, add it all up and divide by 3 and you get your achievement. Then start another set.

PS: If you always get 100%, you may need a reality check

Was it L-U-C-K ?

I have been watching the Spingold with much interest. A lot of interesting hands with a lot of opportunities to do the right things.

One hand in particular in the semi final seemed to illustrate the concept of luck as Luck Under Current Knowledge

All the other 3 tables all played in the 4H. At one table, East opened 1S, competed to 3S and defended 4H by North making 10. The two other tables were in 4H by South (after a 3S bid by East) and made their 12 tricks.
Clearly you could say that EW was very unlucky on this hand at this particular table.
But my question is:
If it was plain old luck, when did this bad/good luck start
Did E open a windown of opportunity and brought bad luck with the 3S bid and did NS capitalise on it by bidding a "lucky slam"
At the other table, was the 1S bid made by East a bit of L-U-C-K?
Any opinions?

Performance Assessment

Competition Assessment	Event:
Date :	Format:
Did you achieve your performance goal? Yes Partly No	What was your your performance goal?
Did you achieve your technical goal? Yes Partly No	What was your your technical goal?
Were you ? ........................... Or	Did you have?
Completely determined to achieve performance goal? Yes Partly No	No worries or fears? Yes Partly No
Completely determined to achieve technical goal? Yes Partly No	Complete commitment to fully extend yourself? Yes Partly No
Mentally calm? Yes Partly No	Complete confidence in mental preparation? Yes Partly No
Highly mentally activated? Yes Partly No	Complete confidence in physical preparation? Yes Partly No
Willing to take necessary risks? Yes Partly No	Complete task focus? Yes Partly No
In complete control? Yes Partly No	Complete confidence in abilities to achieve goal? Yes Partly No
If you have answered partly, notes which parts were NOT and why?
Rate the effectiveness	Of your preparation
Did you follow a game preparation routine? Yes Partly No	Relaxation Yes Partly No
Event specific physical preparation Yes Partly No	Did you follow a refocus routine Yes Partly No
Mental preparation Event review Yes Partly No	Did your attention stay focussed on your game plan? Yes Partly No
When you were going well, where was your focus?	When you were going less well, where was your focus?
Did anything unexpected impacted your performance ? (better or worse)?	Should anything be changed/adapted for the next competition?

Taking a detour along the side of luck

To talk about LUCK, the dreaded luck, the unfaithful mistress who seems to desert you when you wanted her most.

How many time have I barely stopped myself from saying.: “Mmmm, really did not have much luck this tournament! As if somehow, it would wash my sins away and redeem me as a good player who was just not lucky that day.

So, L-U-C-K - What is it?

Acronym for “Living Under Correct Knowledge

..

If you have the correct knowledge on how to do something, you will succeed. That’s what everyone call successful people lucky people. If you bake a cake without the right knowledge and burnt the cake, is it unlucky? If you take driving lessons before, apply your hard gained knowledge to drive your car and never knock it into a tree, are you lucky?

"Luck is where preparation and opportunity meet”

You have to be the right person at the right time in the right place and doing the right thing." You are doing something to make it possible for luck to be on your side. It is a matter of whom you are becoming.

"Luck is probability taken personally. It is the excitement of bad math.”Penn F. Jillette

Or according to the likes of Jean Paul Sartre or Sigmund Freud:

“Bad Luck is an escape from personal responsibility.”

...

"A belief in luck has more to do with a locus of control for events in one’s life and the subsequent escape from personal responsibility. According to this theory, one who ascribes their travails to "bad luck" will be found upon close examination to be living risky lifestyles."

Luck really is the life story of the postage stamp:

A stamp with an attitude that is. The postage stamp that sticks till it gets to the destination.

So no matter where we are, no matter how bad it is, no matter how frustrating it has been, we must stick to the end, although it can really very difficult to achieve, We don’t leave because things don't  look like they were going to be good. Because you must assume that the opportunity will arise. To stay is to practice the art of being lucky The advantage of staying put is that consistency will  pay off and if we have done the right amount and type of preparation, (a big if,  admitedly) success is inevitable. Albert Einstein said it correctly:; Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. Even when you are doing the right thing, do it to till luck comes.

Zap the blocks

They say that practice makes perfect. So:

• Continuing to monitor and jot notes periodically about your focus, and lack of
focus, in your training games.
• After a session of bridge, take a brief, all-senses inventory during the experience of feeling completely focused. This can contribute to your “automaticity” of becoming more naturally and continuously focused, a kind of “muscle memory” of concentration.
• Create concentration intervals during your training matches. Define a specific period of time – 30 minutes, 1 hours, whatever stretches you – and maintain a competition-level focus during that time. Allow for recovery time then repeat the interval
• Experiment with the number and duration of these intervals. Log a few notes after your training
• Implement your refocus plan for your top distractors. At the end of a day, make a brief note of your results
• Away debrief yourself at then end of a competition, especially in regards to your top distractors. • Be merciless in your self-assessment.
• As your find that your top distractors get under control, go back to your list and work on the next top 3 distractors

Find the roadblocks

Step 2 - Find the roadblocks

The next step is to identify the situations that are your recurring distractors.

During each game, whether a practice game, or after a competition, make a note of the things that made you lose focus. Make sure you work out what the catalyst was. If you made a mistake when you know better, you will always find the distraction that took you mind off the ball.

It could be something internal - like a thought (eg. “I can believe I made that bid!”), a feeling such as anger at something your partner or opponents or teammates did, or a sensation that your performance is decreasing?

It could be something external, like another player being obnoxious, a unexpected card hit the table, your partner throwing his cards on the table.

Also try to make of note of how were you feeling just before the distractor appeared? Tired? Anxious? Focused?

You may get a long or short list. If it is very short, consider that you have not tried hard enough.

Once you have this list, prioritise the sources of distraction - Take the top 3 to 5. (Any more that than, and you will drown) and especially any pattern you noitced in how you were feeling just before the distractions got to you