Hello peoples.
End of October got really hectic, I was hardcore hunting plat star, got it but got into the habit of eating junk food, drinking and constantly worrying about stuff, which led to procrastination, and basically I achieved my volume goal at around 80k hands and 7,500 VPP but It burnt me out a bit and I knew it's time for some good ol' improvement and change to get back on track. This is what I've been doing last few days, and what I will keep doing for the rest of the month - I am posting more to make a commitment to myself to better use the opportunity to a great life that poker gives me.
Now before you puke and turn away at this cheesy quote, bear with me people 
Let's pretend we agree with this, and say "fuck it, today is today and I'm going to make it the best damn day possible"
If only it were this simple
Life is complicated. Let's start with...
The past.
Past events and emotions mold as as people, and constantly occupy our head space. That person you pissed off, the money you wasted, those mistakes you made, those unjust bad beats that happened to you, that relationship that fell off. All those things leave residue emotion that keeps coming back, like...regret?
If this wasn't bad enough there of course is
The Future
More importantly, the human brain's natural tendency to project future events and estimate them. How will I pay my bills. How will I deal with that meeting I have in a week's time. How will I deal with these people about this "job" I have. What will I cook for dinner, when will I call that bank, when will I meet that chick.
The brain constantly worries, plans, estimates, in other words, it sucks you out of your presence and into the future.
But focusing on the present doesn't exactly mean that we will focus on what we are doing right now. For example you can worry about what other people think about you, invoke bad emotions when losing, think about spet's boobs thread etc.
If only there were a way to somehow dump all that worry about the future, past and the present, and enjoy what we are doing Right now in the moment, without worrying about other things.
Well, I am no life scientist? You guys tell me. I just came here to make a commitment, and tell you that for the remainder of the month I will do this one simple thing that should make living in the present easier.
Basically I know my goals which I thought about and written down after much thought few weeks ago. They are three and Poker and Fitness are the top2.
What
Now the thing I have been doing this week is super simple -
1) after waking up I sit down, think about all the things I can do that day that I should do, that are in line with those goals. And I dump them on a piece of paper. This includes stuff like cleaning, watching a video, gym etc. I pick the ones that are most important, I feel like/can manage that day and write them down. They do include fun tasks like planning a party or a beer with a friend, cinema, volunteering in the community...
2) Second step is breaking my day into manageable chunks. I used to do this for a while back in Scotland, and it's so incredibly simple that I have no clue why I stopped. - I break down my day based on Food
pretty much
Breakfast
Snack
Lunch
Snack
Dinner
Snack
Whether you believe in the science behind speeding up your metabolism by eating more frequently or not doesn't really matter. What this thing does is create natural time slots, broken down by a break filled by food.
If possible, by mindful eating as well where you concentrate on the food, which can act as almost a form of meditation, but it pulls you out of the routine for sure.
The activities that need to be done can be slotted into these time intervals, and/or you can have a list of them that you can do as you feel like.
The biggest thing that is losing me personally money is procrastinating on facebook, skype, etc. the idea is that you have both a schedule and a backlog of possible varied productive things you can do that you can focus on at all times. Variety is important, so having gym, poker related stuff and normal life related stuff like cleaning, street workout, beer with pals, visiting family or even a nap to always be in the mood is something I am aiming for.
here is an example from today. It's super simple, and a mix of Czech and English because, sadly, this is how my brain operates right now.
+ Show Spoiler +
rest is dedicated to grind.
Why
When I did this for the first time this week, I wrote down 17 things I had to do before my head would be ready to focus on the present and I could go for poker properly. It took me 70% of the day.
The next day it took me 10% of the day and the best thing is it cleared tons of my head space - I messaged who I wanted to message to, arranged what needed to be arranged, cleaned what needed to be cleaned, and when I finally sat down at the tables the past, future and the present worry and distractions were muted down.
- The days feels like it has a purpose when you sit down, say today will be great and then plan it to be great.
- during the day you have nothing to worry about as you already planned in the morning. When you play, you play, when you are at the gym, you are at the gym. When you clean dishes, you clean dishes and don't worry about losing playing time.
- During the day it feels great to tick of what you set out for yourself in the morning. A sense of achievement floods your system with the attached chemicals that boost your mood even though you just managed a banality like buy a new outfit.
- At the end of the day, when you finished what you needed to you again feel great, and the day had a purpose no matter if you won or lost at the tables. You made a plan, stuck to it, focused when it counted and there is nothing more you could have done.
Except when you wake up the next day, see it as a new opportunity and improve on what can work better and what will make it great.
The beautiful thing about poker
is that Youmake the day. You have the burden and the opportunity to make it great. There is no schedule. There is no boss telling you what to do. It really is a blank canvass that you can fill however the hell you want.
And for me personally it's time to grab that brush and start to make the painting that people call today if not great, then at lest meaningful.
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