Clients often describe struggling with Tilt, fear, overconfidence, second-guessing, overthinking, greed, self-criticism, or a lack of confidence like being lost.
If you’re lost in a forest – stuck in the middle of problems like these – you lack the perspective to see the situation as it really is.
Often those issues are viewed as the biggest problem, when in actuality it’s how you view them, or even the mental game as a whole, that’s preventing an escape.
Perspective matters. It’s easy to get stuck thinking in a one-dimensional way, unable to see the forest when you’re lost among the trees.
Sometimes a change in perspective is what’s needed to make progress.
Unsure what I mean? As a quick way of highlighting the point, look at the image below. What do you see? Look again. Do you see anything different?
This was created by an anonymous illustrator in late 19th century Germany. William Ely Hill (1887 – 1962), a British cartoonist, produced a later, well-known version. (Spoiler alert: If you want to know exactly what’s here, it is called My Wife and My Mother-in-Law. Still can’t see it, this video will help.)
An optical illusion like this is a dramatic way to get my point across. Difficulty improving your mental game doesn’t always come from a lack of knowledge or skill, your perspective may only see one side of your “reality.”
Consider that 5,000 years ago people thought the sun revolved around earth. Prior to the 19th century, people thought that disease was mainly caused by bad air, not germs and bacteria.
Before you understood how the emotional system shuts down higher brain functions, you called yourself stupid for making obvious mistakes, rather than understanding that control must be established before emotions become too intense otherwise mistakes are inevitable.
Your perspective shapes how you see the world, yourself, the markets, your opponents, the golf course. Any flaws, biases, wishes, hopes, expectations, or illusions that dominate or lurk in your mind alter your perspective from reality and are a primary cause of mental and emotional turmoil.
In my books I work to educate readers on how to evaluate and change perspective on the mental game.
I spent a lot of time on this in my most recent book, Everyday Golf Psychology. I describe in simple terms where faulty perspectives prevent improvement and how seeing the mental game from the wrong lens is actually the biggest problem. It’s not filled with tons of solutions or tactics because once you have the right perspective, you can apply your own problem-solving abilities – which is exactly what I want you to be able to do!
Escaping the Forest
When you’re stuck, lost, or unsure what to do, stop trying to make progress and clearly define the problem.
So often, clients, traders that I work with in The Mental Game of Trading LIVE, and others that I work with on Livestreams, lack a clarity on something seemingly so basic. Predictably, their understanding evolves as they attempt to articulate what’s going on.
That’s one of the biggest benefits to my new client questionnaire – improvements are often made just from filling it out. (Download a copy for yourself here.)
Can you clearly articulate a problem you’re experiencing? Try taking a minute right now to describe the biggest thing you’re struggling with or want to improve. If you can’t easily do that in 1 or 2 sentences, this is a primary reason why you’re struggling.
Your perspective is obscuring a reality that is accessible from proverbial higher ground.
You’re all capable of being excellent problem-solvers. But you can be stymied by a view of the world or of yourself that isn’t true.
If you’d never seen a bird, you might think it was impossible for any living creature to escape the gravitational force of the earth. Once you know the bird exists, perspective shifts.
Every mental game problem can be solved. The right perspective is a great starting point.
Once you nail down a problem you need help with, submit it here and I select some for my next “Your Pitfall, I Spitball” blog.
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