Confidence-Thinking

Many people cannot make decisions and many people cannot hold them once it is made. We must not mistake knee jerks as decisions. The inability to make clear and firm decisions inevitably lead to a loss confidence. You cannot lie to yourself.

The key to making good decisions lie in considering all the variables including your imagined fears. Chess is a mind game and so it is to the mind we must search for the answer. Very often we are incapacitated by our imagined fears and they loom large in our unconscious. This is the noise in our brain when we compete. The noises outside have power when they resonate with the voices inside our minds. And under increasing pressure they get louder and louder until they overwhelm your thinking.

As you learn to think and confront your fears, you will see that the noise lessens. As you stare down your fears you find that your thinking becomes clearer and clearer. You will make decisions confident you have thought through everything and the noise will eventually abate. And in the end they will disappear. The noise is just that. Noise. They frustrate your plans and they have no bearing to outcome or results except to subvert. Recognise them and they will disappear. Dont and they will steal your hopes and dreams. They have no power except the ones you give them.

Now look at the noises outside again. Here.

Now look inside your mind. They prey on your doubts. Realise also that they do not even have the courage to reveal themselves. They are cowards. What would that make you if cowards can steal your dreams? Dont let them. Think things through. Look at your fears and you will be strong. Even if you do not make or want to be a GM, you will have something to take with you for the rest of your life.

Go back and look at my mentors. They were men that did not allow noises and little men to stop them. Lim Goh Tong found his courage on the way up Genting. Can you think of one great man that that did not face down their fears? That is why their decisions are solid. They do not change their minds in the absence of solid evidence. They stick to the plan. Do this and you will have confidence.

Chess is a beautiful game. It can teach you a lot if you use it properly. It's a game where you can learn about your imagined fears move by move, game by game and tournament by tournament. And you can have fun while learning an essential life lesson. Dont let this game be hijacked.

Deal with imagined fears in your mind and real fears with action.

Note: I will be making an announcement for First GM Chess Academy after this posting.