Thinking about defeat

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Normally, every mental coach would advise against imagining defeat before a match. After all, it is about preparing mentally for the victory through positive affirmations. And we know already that by imagining what we want, we allow it to happen. And our brain doesn’t understand a negative. So we must always think of winning.

CJ Wiley’s Wisdoms

A short time ago I read an article from C.J. Wiley on Facebook, ex- pro, gambler and today, something like a trainer guru in the USA. He writes inspiring articles time and time again or tells old stories from his career. His crocodile leather jacket as Coach of the US-Mosconi-Cup-Teams 2012 is not forgotten…

Imagining defeat before the match

In any case, Wiley writes in his article that he always imagined defeated before decisive matches. By doing so, and surviving defeat in his imagination, he released the fear of it, could let go of the pressure and as a result played freer.

I know that in myself: In important matches I am often exclusively concentrated on winning/loosing and not on playing itself. And as much as you imagine winning, the idea of defeat keeps creeping into your thoughts. A short time ago, I visualized defeat before playing a set against a good opponent. I imagined that I would still continue to live after that and that I would also continue to play good billiards, and, lo and behold: I was more relaxed and could play more loosely in the deciding moment. And I won the set.

But isn’t that dangerous?

By the way, the ideas don’t need to contradict each other; that 1. a visualization leads to the visualized event happening and 2. to imagine defeat. It´s not purely about imagining defeat, but about seeing what that defeat does with you (nothing bad) and realizing that life goes on afterwards.

What we are so afraid of regarding defeat, is that we will lose our face, our self-esteem, that defeat states something about us on a fundamental level. And that’s not correct. When two good players encounter each other, one of them has to lose. No matter how good he is. The best pros can lose 30-40 % of their matches in one season. World champions can be kicked out in the first round of a tour event.