This might not really have much to do with poker…well I think it does indirectly. One of my biggest faults in life and in poker is lack of focus. I always have a zillion things going through my head all at once. There are many ways in which it helps me. I mean I can multitask like you wouldn’t believe. I can think about more things and do more things at the same time than most people can do and think about all day. I never really thought of it as a weakness until the last few months. I don’t want to lose my abilities to multi task and to be able to work multiple problems/scenarios in my head. In some ways I will always have to do that. I have kids, a job and I play poker and I write and help organize things for WPC and Woman Poker Player. So I cannot ever lose that ability totally. But lately it keeps me up at night and seems to drain all of my energy. My lack focus at a poker table, when I write, and when it comes time to work I feel is hurting me. Years ago I picked up one of those self help books about becoming successful in life and in business. I don’t even remember the circumstances that surrounded why I bought it. I read a lot but self help books have never been my genre of choice. Anyway to make a long story short in the beginning of this book one of the tips to personal success is to do away with petty annoyances. They drain you of energy and take away your focus. At the time I ignored the advice. I had plenty of energy and had no problem with completing tasks……on time. Ok, I’ll admit I have become very lax in the deadline department and my focus on projects in and out of poker has become a bit out of my control. I am a big fan of Liz Lieu and one of her strengths and one of the things I admire the most about her is her ability to keep business, poker and the fun side of her life completely separate and her ability to focus completely on the task at hand. I don’t think I will be able to ever do that completely but there is definitely room for improvement. When I first approached her about the subject she said it is something she just does. She does not have time to deal with things later so if she sees a problem she deals with it now. Thinking about this conversation brought me to think about myself and brought me back to that book which was either given away or long burried in a box somewhere.
That book suggested that I make a list of things that are just plain annoying. A coat that no longer fits that should be given away or taken to the Salvation Army, replacing the hooks in my kitchen among a list of 89 other things that need some sort of attention. Then there is the biggie……..my closet. I have just put stuff in that closet since the day we moved in and only had the courage to actually look at some of the stuff once in the last two years. That closet is definitely an energy drainer. It is now to the point where we have to push real hard on the door just to make it shut all the way. Every time I walk past that closet I think about cleaning it out. I just never actually do it. I don’t even know why. Like I said, major energy drainer. Well, today I am cleaning out the closet. What is in there I apparently no longer need or I would have looked for it well before today.
The rest of my list will be worked on little by little until there are fewer demands on my time and focus. I say fewer because in my house no demands is not only unheard of but impossible. They will always be there and in ways I thank God that they are. No worries and no change would be just plain boring. But I can limit my stress and improve in other areas by focusing on what needs to be done at the moment and leaving my thoughts clear to work, play and even sleep with out small petty annoyances weighing on my mind.
So what does that have to do with women in poker? More than you might think. More than poker players, we are women and our personal lives have a way of creeping into our poker lives to steal the glory of winning and succeeding. There are so many of us that have multitudes of distractions. We all have little things that weigh on our minds like that closet. The closet itself is just that ….. a closet. It, on its face, holds no character, no grasp on me or my lifestyle. The closet represents more. It represents letting go of old habits and moving forward. It represents the end of drains on energy and on focus. I think it will be an amazing feeling to be free of small things that hold me back and to move forward on and off the poker tables. |
