About losing and winning during a set (and why it’s dumb)

Dieser Beitrag ist auch auf Deutsch verfügbar.

You can see matches every day where one player looks very good in the beginning, has a comfortable lead, and loses the match. And I’m sure you’ve experienced this situation from both perspectives. Comfortably leading and then losing or being behind and winning the match. “Why does this happen to me over and over again?”, a reader recently asked me. Here’s my answer.

This is what he wrote:

Most often I get stressed when winning! Really, when I lose in a set I can get down, focus and do my best. But when I am ahead, especially when I see that probably I will win, then I get really stressed and I make all kinds of silly mistakes.

We can’t be “winning” or “losing”

First thing I noticed: He’s writing about “when I’m winning” or “when I lose”, where he actually means “I’m leading” or “I’m trailing”. This could already be the core of the problem. When do you win or lose a match? Right: When it’s over. You can’t be “winning” or “losing” while the match is still going on.

The problem: As soon as we think that way, we stop being present and give up control. We assume that a certain state is already reality, a state that we can’t change any more. And not being present means losing focus. And then things go downhill.

Of course, we know –intellectually – that the match isn’t won yet. We just assume that it’s won when we’re leading by a comfortable margin. Because we’re leading we somehow feel we have a right – and a duty – to win the match. And boom, we’re only thinking about the result, about the future, and we’re not doing the necessary actions anymore, in the present. As a result, we play worse.

Losing is part of the game

What’s the solution? Well, first this thought might help: We’re putting to much meaning into pool. Winning and losing becomes so big, although we’re actually just playing for fun, right? Losing is part of the game, and even the top pros are losing maybe 20-30 % of their matches.

Baby, it ain’t over till it’s over

But mainly we have to learn to get rid of expressions like “I’m winning” and “I’m losing” while we’re still playing. Logically, they’re just not correct. We can simply replace them with “I’m leading” and “I’m trailing”. That’s a correct statement and doesn’t make a prediction about the final result. And because we’ve seen so many matches tip over, we can make the right decision and focus on the right thing:

• I’m leading? Ok, I got here because I was very focused and maybe even because I got lucky a few times. What do I have to do? Keep playing with focus, otherwise I might lose my lead.
• I’m trailing? Ok, it didn’t go well so far, or maybe my opponent got lucky or just played very well. This doesn’t mean that things can’t change. What do I have to do? Play with focus, then I can come back.

In both cases playing with focus is the key. Stressing “”focus” and “playing”.

Focus on playing pool, not on the result

Thinking about “I’m winning” or “I’m losing” all comes down to one fundamental problem. When we start thinking about the match this way, we stop being focused on the act of playing pool, but on the result of that act. And this distracts us from performing it.

And that’s what we should be focused on.