grinding and mental health effects

I dont know if there was a post on this already, but this goes for all of you 10 tabling 10 hour grinders:
how do you deal with the mental effects of sitting in front of the computer all day, not going out, the stress, and the physical inactiveness?
isn't this the most unhealthy way on earth to make a living?
what are you guys doing to keep your sanity/physical health?

go dig in garbage for food like the africans do then talk

anyone who whines about this thing of ours is a faggot

eat right and go to the gym<!

im not doing that though

well im going for sne and i have to play like 4-5 hours/day
its not that hard actually
i just wake up and start playing, before lunch im done and still have the rest of the day to do stuff

i dont think anyone here plays for 10 hours everyday

very few people are grinding 10hrs a day afaik. regardless of how long you're on the computer grinding, its going to be best to take breaks, exercise, and eat well... pretty standard.

a more interesting question might have to do with variance and the stress it can cause

Rofl? Physical health I sustain by beating up my mom gf and rest of the chicks that I am 100% sure are weaker then me.

And sanity? Well at least 3 voices atm are saying to me that I'm fine so I'm obviously fine.

Poker is the most stressful job I've ever had. You also don't really feel like you're accomplishing much after a days work too.

Seems pretty common for poker players to have mental breakdowns.

On March 21 2010 11:06 rozyboy wrote: I dont know if there was a post on this already, but this goes for all of you 10 tabling 10 hour grinders: how do you deal with the mental effects of sitting in front of the computer all day, not going out, the stress, and the physical inactiveness? isn't this the most unhealthy way on earth to make a living? what are you guys doing to keep your sanity/physical health?

I deal with it by actually going out, meditating, and (oh shit, cover your ears!) not being physically inactive when I'm not playing. It helps to have hobbies and interests that don't involve sitting infront of a computer when your job involves that. Everyone's got their own coping mechanisms, and I think the best thing to do is just put some time in thinking about your personal flaws/strengths, and work that shit out.

I remember a few month back I was doing nothing on the TL vent, out of nowhere nolan logged in and offered to allow me to sweat him. I was a 50nler at the time, and whaaat the fuck, I thought this guy was crazy. And not because he was playing 20 tables of 3/6. He laughed at everyone, swore at everyone, and said "TRUE!" an absurd amount at every opportunity. Near the end he said something along the lines of "this has gotta not be (feel like?) a job" to himself. It definitely didn't sound forced (he just comes across as a "real" guy, without ego the issues a lot of people have), but it was clear from the conversation I had with him that acting like this was a conscious effort to keep him from losing focus and allow him to play longer sessions. Letting me sweat him also served the purpose of just having someone to talk to. I'm pretty sure he ended up saying all of these things, but I forget.

You can interpret that however you want: he's a hilarious guy who just constantly enjoys himself, he's got problems and needs to find a line of work where he doesn't need to compensate for the misery of playing poker, or whatever else. I think he just found a way that works for him, and I've been looking to find my own way into that kind of optimism and enthusiasm ever since.

On March 21 2010 11:14 sawseech wrote: anyone who whines about this thing of ours is a faggot

sometimes the things you say make me really happy.

On March 21 2010 11:54 Maynard! wrote: Poker is the most stressful job I've ever had. You also don't really feel like you're accomplishing much after a days work too. Seems pretty common for poker players to have mental breakdowns.

this is definitely person to person. If you feel like you have some kinda higher "calling" or the will to do something more such as contributing to society through your work. then yes poker is not for you.

I for one am quite happy that I can grind whenever I want however I want. As for healthiness, it's all person dependent too. You can def find the time in a day to hit up the gym 1-2 hrs a day. and spend 1-2 hrs a day cooking something healthy. It's not that hard. just gotta motivate yourself to do it. Sitting down and whining about it just simply makes you a bitch.

Now to deal with big downswings...hard to say. comes with experience mostly. Weed helps ;D

cheer up

I deal with it by becoming a US Marshal and investigating the stars headquarters in costa rica, which is a country thats kind of like an island

that looks like the worst put together concert ever

How do people play WoW... it doesn't even make them money.

On March 21 2010 11:14 sawseech wrote: anyone who whines about this thing of ours is a faggot

<3

smoke weed and maintain. Honestly, that was the best advice i've ever received. Now Im payin it forward.

On March 21 2010 11:06 rozyboy wrote: I dont know if there was a post on this already, but this goes for all of you 10 tabling 10 hour grinders: how do you deal with the mental effects of sitting in front of the computer all day, not going out, the stress, and the physical inactiveness? isn't this the most unhealthy way on earth to make a living? what are you guys doing to keep your sanity/physical health?

u get used to it

sadly im in very good shape now and used to getting tons of exercize so it is kinda tough for me to grind for very long

lots of these guys were sick gamers anyways

On March 21 2010 11:06 rozyboy wrote: I dont know if there was a post on this already, but this goes for all of you 10 tabling 10 hour grinders: how do you deal with the mental effects of sitting in front of the computer all day, not going out, the stress, and the physical inactiveness? isn't this the most unhealthy way on earth to make a living? what are you guys doing to keep your sanity/physical health?

you make poker sound like a concentration camp, if it makes you so unhappy stop playing. some of us actually like it, its like playing a video game, only that you make money doing it

On March 21 2010 17:20 TalentedTom wrote: Show nested quote + On March 21 2010 11:06 rozyboy wrote: I dont know if there was a post on this already, but this goes for all of you 10 tabling 10 hour grinders: how do you deal with the mental effects of sitting in front of the computer all day, not going out, the stress, and the physical inactiveness? isn't this the most unhealthy way on earth to make a living? what are you guys doing to keep your sanity/physical health? you make poker sound like a concentration camp, if it makes you so unhappy stop playing. some of us actually like it, its like playing a video game, only that you make money doing it

if only I could get this mindset back
might help if i didn't have to play with the biggest retards of all time every day

kpop/jpop or whatever music fail lol.

A bunch of TANLENTLESS HOES FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

hm

grinding isn't tough. 20 tabling 100nl is a lot easier than a job with lots of responsibility. personally Ive found it a lot more stressful to have that responsibility than playing poker. With poker you can set your own hours and shit.

and i have to agree with sawseech. Anyone who whines about this is a faggot.

just smoke weed man

when i see pretty kpop stars i tell myself "these girls dont even shave" ugh.

Perhaps the really troublesome thing about poker as career is dealing with swings. I don't play full time so I can't speak for this. But I had thought about it and I think best way to address this is to live a very healthy life. Eat healthy, exercise, participate in any activities that are productive and interesting. If you run bad for a week and you just sit at home, I don't think it would do much good for your mental health. It's best to get out there and let it out, channel the frustration somewhere else. I think feeling good about oneself is really important.

On March 21 2010 11:06 rozyboy wrote: I dont know if there was a post on this already, but this goes for all of you 10 tabling 10 hour grinders: how do you deal with the mental effects of sitting in front of the computer all day, not going out, the stress, and the physical inactiveness? isn't this the most unhealthy way on earth to make a living? what are you guys doing to keep your sanity/physical health?

do stuff with the time youre not playing poker.

On March 21 2010 16:20 Bejamin1 wrote: How do people play WoW... it doesn't even make them money.

that is wrong, my friend made a fair ammount of money with it. Its just like diablo 2, you can sell stuff to noobs who really want it

too long didn't read, 10 hours a day grind with no transportation time and the ability to eat while u work sounds like an ez job. if u sleep 8 hours a day u have 6 free hours a day. U can watch 2 movies and go out to a bar and get drunk with friends every single night. Wow sick free time wtf are u complaining about. I used to pull 14 hour days for a month straight or one summer when i had to pay for school 15/16 hour days 13 days every 2 weeks. Didn't have any bad mental health effects. It depends on how clear your goals are partially. I was making serious progress when I was paying off college. Having such a goal and plan will stave off an existential depression. However, when all your needs are already met and making money will no longer feel like progress and you're not getting enough social contact existential depression will set it. It has it's evolutionary purposes. They say even clinical depression helps to stimulate procreation. If poker is giving you that free time or that sense that you have your immediate needs met... then the problems that arise from that are not something you should blame on poker. You should thank poker for allowing them to be realized and hopefully fixed by finding meaning in your life. If the mental problems are other types of mental problems, I'm guessing they would exist in any similar lifestyle. Personally poker has never been a stressful job for me but for poker players who aren't making good money I can imagine it would be stressful. If you are in that later category, it's not poker, it's you and you should find a new profession. You should really turn to wiki or psychology forums about these things instead of LP though

jack off

existential depression is fucked up thing

i dont see how grinding 10h/day is any problem if you have social life

i mean srsly 5h sess -> 30m break -> 5h sess - > 4-6 for bars/clubs/cafes/gym/training/woteva -> 7.5-9.5 hrs sleep

ofc i dont see anyone lasting long without social contacts
which makes me curious
there was a prop bet in 2+2 a guy wanted to spend 1 month without any human contact in his room i wonder if the bet went through and what happened to the guy

Just dont play 10/hrs a day would be the first step, and have a good sleeping schedule when you can spend some time outside during the day. Sun is very important for the human mind for some reason and I know that because I just spent an entire winter in darkness and now that the sun is starting to come out I feel much better. Kinda hard in israel tho since may-oct is pretty much hell, but now the weather is pretty good so you should take advantage of it. And I dunno go to the pool,beach start working out, eat delicious israeli food, get fat, work out more etc

Seriously there is no need to grind out 10 hrs a day, even half that would be hard. If you are in the mentality you need to grind that much thats probably adding a lot of stress too. Take your time and if you are grinding for sne or some shit consider stopping, there is not enough money in the world that is worth your mental sanity, cheers.

what i found to be really helpful is going to the casino to play live poker. It helps you get out of the house and you still play poker.

On March 22 2010 12:44 JohnnyBologna wrote: what i found to be really helpful is going to the casino to play live poker. It helps you get out of the house and you still play poker.

pretty much best response ever :D

I get so depressed looking at those people playing house games. Old people on slots is like the worst.

NO ONE plays 10h a day, maybe 1 out of every 10, 000 players does, this is not common practice

10k is probably generous, look at all of here and 2p2 and how many players u find playing 10 hours day after day?

factor in the additional sleep requirements for brain tax and it's more like 13 hours a day and having absolutely no body clock.

i'd guess 1:44980

don't sne chase like me, i do end up playing 10 hour days if i'm stuck and chase my losses and shit, its usually 3-5 hours a day on average though, so not too bad.

I find that if you grind alternate days it can help with the stress level and you have less tendancy to go on tilt and you can go out and get some exercise

what johnnybologna said.
i did it once, did all live for a month and went back online kinda refreshed.

thanks alot for the responses guys
I just feel sometimes like poker is taking too big of a role in my life and it takes away from other stuff- social life and studying.

I guess I should just find a way to balance these three instead of jumping from one extreme to the other.
I bought "poker blueprint" lately- and I rarely do other stuff since, which makes me feel really bad about myself. It just gave me such a sick motivational boost- wanting to improve my game, that I just gave a shit about anything else...
so far it has been- either poker all day and no life, or weed and going out all day with little poker time (sadly, studying is never a priority really).

you got any good advice about balancing poker with your day to day life? studying etc.

On March 23 2010 06:32 rozyboy wrote: thanks alot for the responses guys I just feel sometimes like poker is taking too big of a role in my life and it takes away from other stuff- social life and studying. I guess I should just find a way to balance these three instead of jumping from one extreme to the other. I bought "poker blueprint" lately- and I rarely do other stuff since, which makes me feel really bad about myself. It just gave me such a sick motivational boost- wanting to improve my game, that I just gave a shit about anything else... so far it has been- either poker all day and no life, or weed and going out all day with little poker time (sadly, studying is never a priority really). you got any good advice about balancing poker with your day to day life? studying etc.

i sacrificed school...don't really go to many classes anymore = lots more time

On March 23 2010 06:32 rozyboy wrote: thanks alot for the responses guys I just feel sometimes like poker is taking too big of a role in my life and it takes away from other stuff- social life and studying. I guess I should just find a way to balance these three instead of jumping from one extreme to the other. I bought "poker blueprint" lately- and I rarely do other stuff since, which makes me feel really bad about myself. It just gave me such a sick motivational boost- wanting to improve my game, that I just gave a shit about anything else... so far it has been- either poker all day and no life, or weed and going out all day with little poker time (sadly, studying is never a priority really). you got any good advice about balancing poker with your day to day life? studying etc.

theres no quick solution for being lazy about studying. you just make yourself do it.

On March 22 2010 10:12 Steal City wrote: too long didn't read, 10 hours a day grind with no transportation time and the ability to eat while u work sounds like an ez job. if u sleep 8 hours a day u have 6 free hours a day. U can watch 2 movies and go out to a bar and get drunk with friends every single night. Wow sick free time wtf are u complaining about. I used to pull 14 hour days for a month straight or one summer when i had to pay for school 15/16 hour days 13 days every 2 weeks. Didn't have any bad mental health effects. It depends on how clear your goals are partially. I was making serious progress when I was paying off college. Having such a goal and plan will stave off an existential depression. However, when all your needs are already met and making money will no longer feel like progress and you're not getting enough social contact existential depression will set it. It has it's evolutionary purposes. They say even clinical depression helps to stimulate procreation. If poker is giving you that free time or that sense that you have your immediate needs met... then the problems that arise from that are not something you should blame on poker. You should thank poker for allowing them to be realized and hopefully fixed by finding meaning in your life. If the mental problems are other types of mental problems, I'm guessing they would exist in any similar lifestyle. Personally poker has never been a stressful job for me but for poker players who aren't making good money I can imagine it would be stressful. If you are in that later category, it's not poker, it's you and you should find a new profession. You should really turn to wiki or psychology forums about these things instead of LP though

it's a shame a lot of people won't read this because it doesn't contain paragraphs (-_-) but i think it's a really good post