Resiliency in Poker

Resiliency is all about finding a way through the things that stand in your way. Finding a way to get back up after getting knocked on your ass. Taking a step forward after taking five steps back.

It’s not possible to achieve something great without some challenge getting in the way. In other blog posts and in my Mental Game of Poker series, I speak about what these tend to be, and in this one I’m going to help make sure you’re successful in battling through them, so you can achieve your goal or resolution.

Resiliency is the work ethic you have when times are hard.

This skill is not unique to poker, so even if you develop it in poker, it can help other aspects of your life as well. One of the first obstacles that are often in the way is expecting to face no challenges. When dreaming of what you want to accomplish, it seems easy in your mind. But that fantasy isn’t real. Plus, what makes these accomplishments so rewarding is that you had things standing in your way, and you still won. When things come easily, it’s easy to take them for granted.

Read More: Jared Tendler on the importance of taking good notes in poker.

How you’re going to do that happens in a similar way as in step 3, only this step refers to the details of how you’re going to break through the things holding you back – whether internal or external. Often it’s nothing external that’s holding you back, it’s your own mental game. It’s your own issues that are standing in your way.

Here are some ideas how to do it:

• Read your goals and the reason you want your goals, at the start of everyday.
• Analyze each issue/problem that likely will get in your way and develop a plan of attack.
• Create a daily routine that you follow at all times and especially when faced with tough times.
• Think back to times in the past when you’ve succeed doing something very difficult and write about how you did it.
• Get help from others. Just because it’s your battle alone, others can still help.
• Put your head down and bear through it – remove additional distractions.
• You may need to take a break, especially if you’ve been pushing too hard, you ought to back off and rest . If you’ve only been pushing hard, a break is needed to build the mental muscle you need.
• You may need to readjust your goals. Think about how this time can be like having training wheels on your goals.

This is a tough, but necessary step. Many people think achieving goals or resolutions are easy or they hope they will be easy. Either way, they’re unprepared to fight for what they want to achieve.

Read More: On meeting Mental Game of Poker author Jared Tendler in person