Waking Up

I recently had the pleasure of traveling to the 2014 World Series of Poker Asia-Pacific in Melbourne, Australia. While the trip was not a financial success (I won a satellite to the main event but lost all of the bracelet events), I found a new determination to be the best I can be in all aspects of life that are important to me.

I came to the realization that I was not being the best I could be through reading, of all things, Arnold Schwarzeneggar’s autobiography, Total Recall. While I am not finished with the book, it has had a profound impact on my mindset. The main takeaway I have from it so far is that, if you have clearly defined goals, you can develop steps to work towards them. For example, Arnold knew he wanted to leave Austria and go to America. He realized that his passion for bodybuilding could take him there if he became the best in the world at it. So, he trained harder than everyone else and became the best in the world at it. Throughout the book, he clearly defined short-term and long-term goals, leading to a natural progression to greatness.

When I first started playing poker, I was 100 percent devoted to the game. I spent three years of my life, from 18 and 21 years old, either studying or playing poker. I would wake up, eat, play poker, study poker, have lunch, play poker, study poker, relax for an hour, then go to sleep. I did that around 360 out of 365 days per year for three years. I spent all of my time playing poker. I got good at poker.

Since then, I have been much more lax. I suppose I somewhat fell into the common trap that some successful people fall into where once they make it to the top. They relax and enjoy the spoils of victory. While I have always been a huge fan of studying the game and working hard, my focus slowly shifted away from playing and studying poker all the time to other things, such as helping other poker players succeed and physical fitness. While there is nothing at all wrong with those things, I recognize that I have not put in more hours playing and studying than everyone else. Since that is the case, I should not expect better results than everyone else.

So, I have decided to spend significantly more time studying the game. I have already started watching roughly three hours of poker training videos per day. I plan to start discussing my hands with my friends much more than I already do. I am going to continue writing down every hand of poker I play and will review them after each day of play and then again a month later. I am also going to try to choose my poker trips better, focusing most of my effort on tournament stops where I can play a ton of poker instead of going simply to play one or two events.

I also decided that I need to really focus on my physical health. While I am certainly in better shape than most poker players, there is still a lot more I can do. While I am not trying to become a bodybuilder, I am going to make a point to figure out a workout plan I can stick to both while at home and while traveling. I am also going to eat much better, skipping all alcohol, gluten, and sugar.

For the past 15 days, which is how long it has been since “waking up,” whenever I am confronted with one of these banned substances, I tell myself, “If you eat this, you are telling yourself that you don’t want to be in good physical shape.” Since I really do want to be in good physical shape, I don’t eat the bad substance. The same applies to working out. It also applies to studying poker. I tell myself, “If you don’t study poker for at least an hour today, you are telling yourself that you do not want to be a good poker player.” While this may sound harsh, it has been working well for me so far. As for alcohol, when someone wants me to drink with them, I simply say, “I stopped drinking.” I then have the opportunity to discuss my goals and why alcohol is really bad for you.

I look forward to continually improving and becoming the best I can be. Hopefully some of you will join me in this quest for self-mastery. If you do, please let me know by contacting me on my personal site at JonathanLittlePoker.com. ♠

Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT champion with more than $6 million in tournament winnings. Each week, he posts an educational blog and podcast at JonathanLittlePoker.com, where you can get a FREE poker training video that details five things you must master if you want to win at tournament poker.