For many of you this is the most important step (by far) in making your resolutions stick. You’ve set goals, maybe even made a plan, but too often that plan doesn’t account for the predictable things that are going to get in your way.
When setting out your goals or resolutions, the likelihood that you can achieve what you’ve set out to do, seems MUCH easier in your mind than in reality. In your mind, there’s nothing stopping you. It’s easy – a straight shot between you and the end. You may even realize that it’s going to be hard, but what’s going to be hard doesn’t seem real…until you’re faced with your first roadblock. Then it get’s real, real quick.
At this point in the year, you made have already had your rude awakening from the illusion it was going to be easy, even if you have, take this advice and use to make sure you don’t hit more.
The big question you have to answer here is how much are you going to let these things deter you?
The greatest reason why resolutions and goals fail is old habits.
When you’re trying to reach a goal, or create new habits in poker or your life, old habits truly die hard. You don’t live in a vacuum. Your old ways of approaching poker are gone just because its 2011 and not in 2010. They don’t disappear just because the calendar has turned a page. Plus, the inspiration you had at the start of the year, isn’t enough to carry you through to really reach your goals, because that inspiration is hiding your old habits.
If you followed my advice from previous blogs and know what your weaknesses are, that’s what you have to be on the look out for. Every time they show up, it’s a chance to reach your goal now, in a real way because only when these old habits are gone will have you have really reached your goal/resolution.
Old habits only disappear easily in your dreams.
Reality is harsh until you accept it.
Besides old habits, be sure to also brainstorm anything else that you anticipate making it harder to achieve your goal. The purpose of thinking about this stuff is to make sure you’re prepared for what’s most likely to throw you off, so you can stay on track. It sounds simple enough, and really it is. It’s just that players don’t take the time to do a little extra thinking to be prepared.
They think it’s going to be easy, and when this shit completely throws them off, they make excuses. Excuses are easy. Goals are challenging – but nothing worth doing was easy, and the way poker is today, it’s no longer enough to just do what’s easy.
Don’t get discouraged by your old habits, or anything else that stands in your way, and in my next blog, I’ll give you some strategies to break through them, and make real progress towards your goals/resolutions.
