Planning to Quit and sticking to it.

About a week ago I donked off a buy-in through staying too long, playing while tired, and not having a plan to quit. A pattern of behaviour that has cost me money in the past. And a pattern that I've written about previously with the intent of making myself plan my sessions and quit when I intend to.

Since that session last week I've been diligent with putting alarms into my phone to give myself a cue to either have a break or to leave the Casino. And I'm pleased to report that I've stuck with that pattern of behaviour for the past week. And I'm more conscious of monitoring my inner feeling of alertness / tiredness and have been able to up and quit when I realize I'm no longer able to properly monitor the action that is happening at my table. 

My daily meditation practice is going well. I've now established a habit pattern of meditating for one hour each morning. This new level of meditation has been in place for a bit over two months now and I'm sure it is giving me the ability to focus and concentrate for longer on the action and betting patterns taking place at the tables. I can recall the early days of my meditation practice when I would struggle to sit for 15 minutes. And now I'm sitting for 60 minutes with what feels like much less effort, frustration and bodily discomfort.  At the start of 2016 my daily practice was 30 minutes per day, and to now hit 60 minutes per day is a new habit that I am well pleased to have established.

I've acquired Alexander Fitzgerald's "The Myth of Poker Talent" and have started working my way through that book. Alex's weekly podcast at oneouter.com is a great motivational tool for me. I'm a little bemused that my major poker mentor is a 27 year old hyper active American. But he is such an advocate of improvement through hard work, discipline and thoughtful effort that, while I don' quite get through as much study each week as Alex advocates, I certainly do far more study than if I didn't listen to him. By the end of 2016 I would like to have better work habits established. I'm conscious of the tedx talk on Tiny Habits and will be looking to build in cues to my day to give myself a better chance of getting in between one and two hours study per day.