Need help with my mindset

[rob s]

Hi guys I thought I would post this here and see if I can get any help, ok so here goes. About a month or so ago I hit my 1st 2 50 breaks and I was hitting 30s and 40s regularly then suddenly something changed!! Instead of feeling confident round the table and cueing the ball confidently and smoothly I started to feel anxious even on shots that I would pot with ease. My cue action then started to suffer as I became hesitant and was stabbing or jerking, sometimes even throwing my shoulder in to the shot. I felt really frustrated, confused and disappointed that after finally hitting a 50 break I suddenly lost my confidence and was struggling to string more than 3-4 pots together.
Today I was waiting for a mini butt to arrive in the post from Trevor white and it didnt turn up again now usually I would let this frustrate me but today I decided to just forget it and go do some solo practice. So I get to the halls and decide to change table from my usual table 8 to table 7 and while I'm practicing I notice that I haven't missed a ball yet and that I'm hitting the ball really smoothly. After about 45 mins of practice a local player turned up as his brother works at the snooker hall and he asked me if I fancy a frame. His highest break is 141 and even though I would always enjoy playing a player of his quality I would usually be telling myself I have absolutely no chance but today for some reason I didn't. We only played 2 frames but both frames went down to the pink, I had a 3 breaks in the 20s and 30s, played some really nice stuff and thoroughly enjoyed it even if I did lose both frames. After the frames we had a chat and he was amazed my highest break was only 57 and couldn't believe I had been struggling for the last couple of weeks.
I feel great about how I played today and how focused & confident I was around the table but my question is how do I learn to just think n feel like that more often?
Maybe its a stupid question because of mosts player on here knew the answer they may well be on the pro circuit. I just think there must be a way to flush your mind of negative thoughts and just play each shot with confidence and not fear & anxiety.
I have read the chimp paradox and didnt really buy in to it if I'm honest so any advice or help would really be appreciated guys

[lennon11]

Re "the chimp parrodox" you don't need to buy into the whole analogy of the book, but you must buy into the theory that you can to some degree control/choose how you react to things.... thus controlling your thought process.......this is a fact.

[rob s]

Yes definitely we all control how we react to things and I think that much is the obvious. What I and a lot of people struggle with is if you just feel anxious and have no confidence that day but don't know why

[nrage]

Yes definitely we all control how we react to things and I think that much is the obvious. What I and a lot of people struggle with is if you just feel anxious and have no confidence that day but don't know why

Some introspection (looking inward) is required to try and figure out if there is a reason why you're feeling anxious, or why your confidence might be low.

I practice on the pool table at work, the best time for me is about 30 mins after I eat my lunch. If I leave it till say 4pm instead then I play much worse. This is all down to how tired I am at the end of the work day and how low my blood sugar is - because I haven't eaten recently. Just after lunch I am alert, confident and things flow much better. Drinking water is also essential - why do you think pros do it constantly. There are studies which show that low fluid levels can mean a decrease in mental acuity.

As for anxiety, there is usually a reason for it but it may not be related to snooker, it could be anything else in your life which has got you uptight and concerned. I think one key to battling anxiety is to first figure out what it is you're anxious about and second to do something about it immediately, even if all you do is think about the problem and decide if/when you can actually do something about it. Once you have made a decision about something, you always feel less anxious about it.

[Sidd]

How much do you practice. On shots that you do not feel confident about, do you really practice them in solo ? practicing in solo gives fluency in playing this game and that when it goes to the match table improves confidence.

You can read as many books as you like however those shaky nerves can only be controlled by targeted practice and hard work.