What Should You Be Thinking Before The Shot And During The Shot?

[Daniel Westhead 147]

Same as title .

[RGCirencester]

I think you are really going too deep into every detail of your game. Down on the shot for instance you should be concentrating 100% on what you are doing, you can't be thinking about where your feet are for instance.

Overthinking can be a problem in snooker imo, i know people that have reached roadblocks in thier game simply because they think too much about every minute detail.

[Daniel Westhead 147]

I know that's what I done in the past, but I have just started recently playing again, quite well and just wanted to develop a simple game.

[poolqjunkie]

I cannot speak for others, but when I am playing very well, I dont really think of anything in particular.
I will focus on the aiming point on my object ball, and foucs on putting my cue ball where I want when I pull my trigger, but I am not really thinking about it.
I think about my body mechanic and all sorts of things when I am not playing well. When I am out of my rhythm, and I try to think about what I am doing wrong, everything just goes downhill from there.
If I lose my focus, sometimes I will take a bit more time when I look at the table and the able to get myself thinking about nothing but the balls and the table.
Hope this makes sense.

[spike]

i think nothing else but the shot i'm about to take on, & then during the shot i give 100% concentration & fully commit myself to the shot, without any thought in my mind of missing..

[joe.l]

what to think about??

poolqjunkie , are you saying it's best to leave your brain at home ????

[spike]

im always thinking about sex and john smiths

that's where your going wrong lol..

[poolqjunkie]

poolqjunkie , are you saying it's best to leave your brain at home ????

Well, I do nto know what is best. I was just saying what happens to me when I am playing my best.
On the snooker table, when the colors are on the spots, it is kind of routine unless you have a very tricky situation. All the drills and practices just kick in when I have a clear shot (and when i am playing well), I feel kind of automatic--like driving a car to a place I am very familiar with--that I do not really make an effort to think about what I am really doing.
But when things are going bad, then i will try to think about all sorts of things, trying to change things in the middle of the frame, and mess up big time.

[noel]

Think differently.

Mushin (無心; Chinese wúxīn; English translation "no-mindedness" ) is a mental state into which very highly trained martial artists are said to enter during combat. The term is shortened from mushin no shin (無心の心), a Zen expression meaning "mind of no mind".
That is, a mind not fixed or occupied by thought or emotion and thus open to everything.

Mushin is achieved when a person feels no anger, fear or ego during combat. There is an absence of discursive thought and judgment, so the person is totally free to act and react towards an opponent without hesitation. At this point, a person relies not on what they think should be the next move, but what is felt intuitively. It is not a state of relaxed, near-sleepfulness, however. The mind could be said to be working at a very high speed, but with no intentions, plans or direction.

A martial artist would likely have to train for many years to be capable of mushin. This allows time for combinations of movements and exchanges of techniques to be practised repetitively many thousands of times, until they can be performed spontaneously, without conscious thought. If he is capable of truly listening to his teacher, however, he could attain this level in only a few years. Some masters believe that mushin is the state where a person finally understands the uselessness of techniques and becomes truly free to move. In fact, that person will no longer even consider themselves as "fighters" but merely living beings moving through space

The legendary Zen master Takuan Sōhō:

The mind must always be in the state of 'flowing,' for when it stops anywhere that means the flow is interrupted and it is this interruption that is injurious to the well-being of the mind. In the case of the swordsman, it means death. When the swordsman stands against his opponent, he is not to think of the opponent, nor of himself, nor of his enemy's sword movements. He just stands there with his sword which, forgetful of all technique, is ready only to follow the dictates of the subconscious. The man has effaced himself as the wielder of the sword. When he strikes, it is not the man but the sword in the hand of the man's subconscious that strikes.

You cannot see mushin directly... only the reflection of it.

Below the calligraphic representation of "mushin" by the Zen Master Fukushima Keido Roshi.
It's on my neck.



=o)

Noel

[checkSide]

Noel.

You are one crazy motherfunker!

[noel]

Noel.

You are one crazy motherfunker!

Thanks mate!
[ nicest thing I've heard all day ]


=o)

Noel

[saddler79]

When I am playing well, nothing but the angle onto object ball and where to strike the white.

When Im playing badly all sorts of technical thoughts (stance, sighting, backswing etc) cross my mind and make me even worse. IMO the simpler you keep things in your mind the better you will play. This applies to other sports also.

[Daniel Westhead 147]

When I am playing well, nothing but the angle onto object ball and where to strike the white.

When Im playing badly all sorts of technical thoughts (stance, sighting, backswing etc) cross my mind and make me even worse. IMO the simpler you keep things in your mind the better you will play. This applies to other sports also.

Yes I agree, but how do you take something that is complicated, simplify it and put it into your game?

[poolqjunkie]

Yes I agree, but how do you take something that is complicated, simplify it and put it into your game?

I dont pretend to have the answer here, but this is what I have experienced and what I believe:

You cannot really TRY to achieve that by telling your mind not to think when you are playing. But you can program your mind during practice sessions so that when you are playing a match you do not think about anything but making balls.

I think it is really like driving. When you first started, you need to remind yourself to pay attention to lots of things; as you become more familiar with driving, you think less and are even able to talk and do other things at the same time.

This does not come overnight, but rather through practicing a lot(driving everyday) and a systematic training(taking driving lessons). You have been programmed and it has become automatic for you.

When you take the same route to work or to go to the local supermarket or whatever, you don't really think about when to turn and how to get there--you just know--because you have done it so many times. Your mind is freed up to do other things when your instinct takes over to guide you. Sometimes, you may look back and feel that your mind was blank as to how you arrived at your destination. That "blankness" is what I was talking about.

If you do a lot of drills with different layout and patterns, you will one day become instinctive when you see that pattern on the table, and you can just react, with the same "blankness."

Going back to driving, if you have an appointment to meet and you are late, you may try "harder" to find a shortcut or whatver, and you could actually make mistakes and take the wrong turn and either take longer or get into accidents. It is similiar to trying to do something "special" or "different" when the pressure is on. That kind of messes up the brain, making the task more complicated than it shoudl be.

Hope this helps.

[saddler79]

I dont pretend to have the answer here, but this is what I have experienced and what I believe:

You cannot really TRY to achieve that by telling your mind not to think when you are playing. But you can program your mind during practice sessions so that when you are playing a match you do not think about anything but making balls.

I think it is really like driving. When you first started, you need to remind yourself to pay attention to lots of things; as you become more familiar with driving, you think less and are even able to talk and do other things at the same time.

This does not come overnight, but rather through practicing a lot(driving everyday) and a systematic training(taking driving lessons). You have been programmed and it has become automatic for you.

When you take the same route to work or to go to the local supermarket or whatever, you don't really think about when to turn and how to get there--you just know--because you have done it so many times. Your mind is freed up to do other things when your instinct takes over to guide you. Sometimes, you may look back and feel that your mind was blank as to how you arrived at your destination. That "blankness" is what I was talking about.

If you do a lot of drills with different layout and patterns, you will one day become instinctive when you see that pattern on the table, and you can just react, with the same "blankness."

Going back to driving, if you have an appointment to meet and you are late, you may try "harder" to find a shortcut or whatver, and you could actually make mistakes and take the wrong turn and either take longer or get into accidents. It is similiar to trying to do something "special" or "different" when the pressure is on. That kind of messes up the brain, making the task more complicated than it shoudl be.

Hope this helps.

Excellent analogy poolqjunkie. When i'd first passed my driving test, driving to work through city centre rush hour traffic was horrific and I was concentrating hard on every aspect of driving the car. Now, years later i get to work and have almost forgotten the drive in.

This is the 'blankness' you talk about. In snooker this comes with nothing but practice and experience. You need to separate the practice mind from the match one.

Practice should be used for fine tuning your game, working on technique and working on specific problems. For example if its the deep screw you are stuggling with you will need to practice it hard and at this time concentrating on aspects of technique is important. After repeating the shot as many times as it takes it will start to become automatic and the cue ball will start to come flying back every time. When its becomes automatic and not mechanical its time to take it to a match.

If Im thinking in practice mode during a match I get hammered every time! A lot of players far better than me swear by this approach and only consider object ball angle and cue ball striking during a game.