Mental Maximization

By Max Eberle

Trust-The Magic Ingredient

After all these years of playing pool, I have determined that the most important skill in the game is trust. Sure, fundamentals and knowledge are very important, but trust is the ingredient that gives life to concentrated effort.

If you don't know much and have poor fundamentals, trust alone will not make the balls for you. So it's important to actively learn a sound way of playing pool by improving your skills. You need craft, and this takes time and effort. Even if you have some good moments, you will need to keep working, keep learning, and keep improving.

Trust is the final ingredient for a master of the craft. Trust is what makes a champion play their best and light up a table. Trust is what enables a master to make the game look really easy. To a master who is clicking physically and mentally, the game is easy.

Yet trust is also the first ingredient to put you o­n the road to mastery. If you have a goal, a vision of how good you want to be, you have got to trust that you will make it there before going down that road if you intend to succeed.

With this in mind, you have got to accept and expect that you will make mistakes o­n the way there, but trust that if you keep trying, you will correct those mistakes and move closer to your goal. You have got to expect improvement.

It all boils down to the shot you are facing right now. o­n your very next shot, make a decision. Pick a contact point. Plan a position route. Decide o­n what spin to use. Decide how hard to hit the shot. And then when it is time to execute, try it and see what happens. Have the desire to make it work and concentrate. But trust in your stroke. Put it out there. Let it go. Throw the cue. Relax. Let it happen.

Don't jump up. Don't clench the cue with a tight grip and give a half stroke. Don't steer the ball in the hole. Hey, if you do, you are o­nly human-just don't do it again and again. Calm down and trust your stroke.

If you have to, imitate a champion. Pretend you are that person. Walk like them, talk like them, stroke like them. This is actually o­ne of the fastest ways to become great at something. Try imitating as many good players as you can. They are worthy of imitation, and this will o­nly help you. Be an actor for a minute, and start acting like a great player. You just might become o­ne, and if you are o­ne, trust your stroke, and trust your game.

Practice by yourself o­n a regular basis. Each time you practice, master o­ne shot. Keep shooting it until you have it. If you keep making a change, you will have to get it right eventually. If you practice everyday, you are getting to shoot a lot of balls. Imagine if you mastered five shots a day.  Trust the process, and trust your stroke.

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