60k hands, 310k steps, 1 month – August 2020
08-15-2020
, 08:34 PM
Week 2 Results
The things that come to mind the most when thinking about Week 2 are running and PokerBros.
Steps and Running
I picked up my miles this week and surpassed the weekly benchmark of 25 miles by 1.92 miles. Also ran 5 days in a row which feels good. This complimented my steps number and I surpassed the weekly benchmark by 2.6k steps.
Week 2 Steps: 72,601 Week 2 Benchmark: 70,000 Variance: +2,601
Week 2 Miles: 26.92 Week 2 Benchmark: 25 Variance: +1.92
Poker
PokerBros took up the majority of my poker time this week with my friend’s club holding the most hands in a week promotion for $500.
It feels good to have taken it down and I don’t think I would have been successful without the growth built from the effort in Week 1. Hands take longer on Bros and you can only play 4-tables at once so this was a natural obstacle for hitting the weekly benchmark of 14k hands. Missed it hard by a deficit of 5.1k hands. I can’t use this as an excuse though. There’s still so much time during the day that I can better take advantage of. Overall, very much a great week.
Week 2 Hands: 8,821 Week 2 Benchmark: 14,000 Variance: -5,179 Hands to complete: 39,815
Aggregate Results
Steps and Running
Aggregate Steps: 137,584 2-Week Agg Benchmark: 140,000 Variance: -2,452 Steps to complete: 172,416
Aggregate Miles: 49.50 2-Week Agg Benchmark: 50 Variance: -0.5 Miles to complete: 50.50
Very content and comfortable with where steps and miles are at right now. Main goals going forward are to maintain current effort and to improve effort towards rest and recovery. More stretching, more yoga, higher quality of sleep.
Poker
Aggregate Hands 10nl 6-max: 12,746 Aggregate Result 10nl: +$81.75
Aggregate Hands 25nl 6-max: 2,911 Aggregate Result 25nl: -$328.63
Aggregate Hands PokerBros 60nl and 100nl: 4,528 Aggregate Result PokerBros: +$369.11
Aggregate Hands All Games: 20,185 2-Week Agg Benchmark: 28,000 Variance: -7,815
Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$122.23 Hands to Complete: 39,815
Strongly behind where I’d like to be with hands thus far. This was the area that I was most afraid of getting behind on in the challenge. The only thing I can do from here is to keep improving. How can I do that?
Again, PROPER SLEEP/WAKE SCHEDULE! This one is such a challenge for me. The biggest thing is getting up and going at a good time in the morning so that I’m not rushed throughout the day and so I don’t have to stay up late to try and hit daily benchmarks.
I’m a pro at spreading myself too thin and trying to improve on too many areas at once. Because of this I’m going to end my focus of how to improve this week on the sleep/wake schedule. Once I get that going well, all the other things with play and study will better fall into place.
I like the improvements I’ve made so far and I like where I’m headed. Let’s keep going and go smarter during Week 3.
The things that come to mind the most when thinking about Week 2 are running and PokerBros.
Steps and Running
I picked up my miles this week and surpassed the weekly benchmark of 25 miles by 1.92 miles. Also ran 5 days in a row which feels good. This complimented my steps number and I surpassed the weekly benchmark by 2.6k steps.
Week 2 Steps: 72,601 Week 2 Benchmark: 70,000 Variance: +2,601
Week 2 Miles: 26.92 Week 2 Benchmark: 25 Variance: +1.92
Poker
PokerBros took up the majority of my poker time this week with my friend’s club holding the most hands in a week promotion for $500.
It feels good to have taken it down and I don’t think I would have been successful without the growth built from the effort in Week 1. Hands take longer on Bros and you can only play 4-tables at once so this was a natural obstacle for hitting the weekly benchmark of 14k hands. Missed it hard by a deficit of 5.1k hands. I can’t use this as an excuse though. There’s still so much time during the day that I can better take advantage of. Overall, very much a great week.
Week 2 Hands: 8,821 Week 2 Benchmark: 14,000 Variance: -5,179 Hands to complete: 39,815
Aggregate Results
Steps and Running
Aggregate Steps: 137,584 2-Week Agg Benchmark: 140,000 Variance: -2,452 Steps to complete: 172,416
Aggregate Miles: 49.50 2-Week Agg Benchmark: 50 Variance: -0.5 Miles to complete: 50.50
Very content and comfortable with where steps and miles are at right now. Main goals going forward are to maintain current effort and to improve effort towards rest and recovery. More stretching, more yoga, higher quality of sleep.
Poker
Aggregate Hands 10nl 6-max: 12,746 Aggregate Result 10nl: +$81.75
Aggregate Hands 25nl 6-max: 2,911 Aggregate Result 25nl: -$328.63
Aggregate Hands PokerBros 60nl and 100nl: 4,528 Aggregate Result PokerBros: +$369.11
Aggregate Hands All Games: 20,185 2-Week Agg Benchmark: 28,000 Variance: -7,815
Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$122.23 Hands to Complete: 39,815
Strongly behind where I’d like to be with hands thus far. This was the area that I was most afraid of getting behind on in the challenge. The only thing I can do from here is to keep improving. How can I do that?
Again, PROPER SLEEP/WAKE SCHEDULE! This one is such a challenge for me. The biggest thing is getting up and going at a good time in the morning so that I’m not rushed throughout the day and so I don’t have to stay up late to try and hit daily benchmarks.
I’m a pro at spreading myself too thin and trying to improve on too many areas at once. Because of this I’m going to end my focus of how to improve this week on the sleep/wake schedule. Once I get that going well, all the other things with play and study will better fall into place.
I like the improvements I’ve made so far and I like where I’m headed. Let’s keep going and go smarter during Week 3.
08-17-2020
, 02:57 PM
Switching it up
Up until this point, I’ve been saving my writing/posting until the end of my day. In and act of trying to get to bed earlier and wake-up earlier, I’m gonna switch up my writing schedule and save my reflection for the beginning of the next day. See how things change from that.
Steps and Running
No running yesterday. Nice walk in the park. Nature is always so re-vitalizing.
Today’s steps: 8,287 Steps completed: 148,857 Steps to complete: 161,143
Today’s miles: 0.0 Miles completed: 49.5 Miles to complete: 50.5
Poker
Session Hands: 595 Stake: 10nl 6-max Session result: +$14.77
Aggregate hands 10nl 6-max: 13,642 Aggregate Result 10nl: +$88.53
Total Hands All Stakes: 21,082 Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$129.01 Hands left this month: 38,918
Small session again yesterday. My game and the reasons behind my decisions have definitely improved, but I’m noticing more perfectionism creeping into my thought process when I’m trying to figure out the dynamics of the hand. Every board that comes out, my mind wants to stress over wondering what the solver would say to do with the spot. I don’t want conscious thought around this in-game and I would rather it be natural. If you’re golfing, you can’t be thinking about the mechanics of the swing on the course. You want to just go out and play. Any detail work is made to be tackled on the driving range and within practice. When it’s not natural that means you aren’t as prepared as you could be. Same thing with poker.
This would make sense after putting all my effort into hands on PokerBros last week and not making time to work through the study side of things. I’ll be picking up the GTO+ work this week and starting off my day with study sessions. The next step will be to bring some of my learning via study into my writings to better clarify. Time to jump in.
Up until this point, I’ve been saving my writing/posting until the end of my day. In and act of trying to get to bed earlier and wake-up earlier, I’m gonna switch up my writing schedule and save my reflection for the beginning of the next day. See how things change from that.
Steps and Running
No running yesterday. Nice walk in the park. Nature is always so re-vitalizing.
Today’s steps: 8,287 Steps completed: 148,857 Steps to complete: 161,143
Today’s miles: 0.0 Miles completed: 49.5 Miles to complete: 50.5
Poker
Session Hands: 595 Stake: 10nl 6-max Session result: +$14.77
Aggregate hands 10nl 6-max: 13,642 Aggregate Result 10nl: +$88.53
Total Hands All Stakes: 21,082 Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$129.01 Hands left this month: 38,918
Small session again yesterday. My game and the reasons behind my decisions have definitely improved, but I’m noticing more perfectionism creeping into my thought process when I’m trying to figure out the dynamics of the hand. Every board that comes out, my mind wants to stress over wondering what the solver would say to do with the spot. I don’t want conscious thought around this in-game and I would rather it be natural. If you’re golfing, you can’t be thinking about the mechanics of the swing on the course. You want to just go out and play. Any detail work is made to be tackled on the driving range and within practice. When it’s not natural that means you aren’t as prepared as you could be. Same thing with poker.
This would make sense after putting all my effort into hands on PokerBros last week and not making time to work through the study side of things. I’ll be picking up the GTO+ work this week and starting off my day with study sessions. The next step will be to bring some of my learning via study into my writings to better clarify. Time to jump in.
08-18-2020
, 04:07 PM
Fun > Perfect
I want to improve. I want to go up in stakes. I want to be better at understanding and explaining why certain decisions are better than other decisions. Seems like commonplace for the majority of serious players. But when I try to be perfect at these things, I paralyze myself and I don’t move forward. This has been my natural tendency with study. I’ll jump into GTO+, begin inputting a spot, try to be perfect with inputting my opponent’s range and bet sizes within the tree, then all of the sudden I have a lot of mental tension and fear built up. I understand that the inputs are everything within solves and so the fear comes from the pressure I put on myself of building a proper foundation or else the outputs will be trash. Fact of the matter is that I’m using perfectionism as my life input, and that is going to lead to a trashy life output. I would much rather have the inputs be from a place of fun and curiosity. I very much look up to the players/coaches that have this ability and perspective. I’m not there yet but that sounds like such a place of serenity; where the learning is joyful and not something of pressure or fear. Seems like you can’t lose from that point of view.
Poker
Day 17 Hands: 2,297 Stake: 10nl 6-max Net result: +$6.77
Yesterday was a better day with performance of the process. I spent time in GTO+ inputting spots and getting more comfortable with the program, logged just under 2.3k hands over two sessions, and ended the night with a couple of videos. Graph is still not a pretty sight and seems crazy that I’m profitable so far at 10nl.
My Chips Won over 16k hands is 1400bb higher than my Chip All-In Adj. Like WTF lol? I do feel improvements but I still very much need to get down into the details of things as to what I’m doing well and what needs the most work. Have fun with it.
Total hands 10nl 6-max: 15,939 Aggregate Result 10nl: +$95.30
Total Hands All Stakes: 23,379 Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$135.78 Hands left this month: 36,621
Steps and Running
Went on a run in between sessions last night. Felt really good and very helpful to get thoughts/feelings organized. It’s going to be a push to get in all 25 miles this week. I would rather move forward with hands than steps/miles so it’s all good as long I have the hands played to show for the miles missed.
Today’s steps: 9,725 Steps completed: 158,582 Steps to complete: 151,418
Today’s miles: 5.87 Miles completed: 55.37 Miles to complete: 44.63
I want to improve. I want to go up in stakes. I want to be better at understanding and explaining why certain decisions are better than other decisions. Seems like commonplace for the majority of serious players. But when I try to be perfect at these things, I paralyze myself and I don’t move forward. This has been my natural tendency with study. I’ll jump into GTO+, begin inputting a spot, try to be perfect with inputting my opponent’s range and bet sizes within the tree, then all of the sudden I have a lot of mental tension and fear built up. I understand that the inputs are everything within solves and so the fear comes from the pressure I put on myself of building a proper foundation or else the outputs will be trash. Fact of the matter is that I’m using perfectionism as my life input, and that is going to lead to a trashy life output. I would much rather have the inputs be from a place of fun and curiosity. I very much look up to the players/coaches that have this ability and perspective. I’m not there yet but that sounds like such a place of serenity; where the learning is joyful and not something of pressure or fear. Seems like you can’t lose from that point of view.
Poker
Day 17 Hands: 2,297 Stake: 10nl 6-max Net result: +$6.77
Yesterday was a better day with performance of the process. I spent time in GTO+ inputting spots and getting more comfortable with the program, logged just under 2.3k hands over two sessions, and ended the night with a couple of videos. Graph is still not a pretty sight and seems crazy that I’m profitable so far at 10nl.
My Chips Won over 16k hands is 1400bb higher than my Chip All-In Adj. Like WTF lol? I do feel improvements but I still very much need to get down into the details of things as to what I’m doing well and what needs the most work. Have fun with it.
Total hands 10nl 6-max: 15,939 Aggregate Result 10nl: +$95.30
Total Hands All Stakes: 23,379 Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$135.78 Hands left this month: 36,621
Steps and Running
Went on a run in between sessions last night. Felt really good and very helpful to get thoughts/feelings organized. It’s going to be a push to get in all 25 miles this week. I would rather move forward with hands than steps/miles so it’s all good as long I have the hands played to show for the miles missed.
Today’s steps: 9,725 Steps completed: 158,582 Steps to complete: 151,418
Today’s miles: 5.87 Miles completed: 55.37 Miles to complete: 44.63
08-19-2020
, 12:53 PM
Poker
Session Hands: 1,368 Stake: 10nl 6-max Net result: -$37.43
Total hands 10nl 6-max: 17,307 Aggregate Result 10nl 6-max: +$57.82
Total Hands All Stakes: 24,747 Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$98.35
Fell back into some bad habits during yesterday's session. I’m noticing that a common theme in my losing sessions is that I’m playing on the defensive side much more than the offensive side; calling and trying to bluff catch in a lot of big spots. At 10nl it seems like when they bet big, they just have it! Which is funny because this is completely in line with the advice I’ve been given for playing micros to simply bet bigger with value. Silly that I’m falling victim to this as well. This is what the reps and review are for.
Got some other advice today to avoid looking at daily results. At the moment I mostly just feel relieved/neutral about a positive session, but a negative session can mess up my whole day. I’m gonna try out looking at results solely on a weekly basis and see how things feel. Will continue to post daily hand quantity but monetary results I’ll save for when I look at them weekly.
Very much behind on hands which isn’t a good feeling but I gotta just keep pushing forward with where I’m at right now and keep growing. I'm having more fun with GTO+ everyday and it’s starting to feel more like a toy.
Easy ways for me to better strategy going forward include:
Steps and Running
Zero running yesterday and very low on steps but off on a run today as soon as I post this.
Today’s steps: 2,073 Steps completed: 160,655 Steps to complete: 149,345
Today’s miles: 0.0 Miles completed: 55.37 Miles to complete: 44.63
Session Hands: 1,368 Stake: 10nl 6-max Net result: -$37.43
Total hands 10nl 6-max: 17,307 Aggregate Result 10nl 6-max: +$57.82
Total Hands All Stakes: 24,747 Aggregate Result All Stakes: +$98.35
Fell back into some bad habits during yesterday's session. I’m noticing that a common theme in my losing sessions is that I’m playing on the defensive side much more than the offensive side; calling and trying to bluff catch in a lot of big spots. At 10nl it seems like when they bet big, they just have it! Which is funny because this is completely in line with the advice I’ve been given for playing micros to simply bet bigger with value. Silly that I’m falling victim to this as well. This is what the reps and review are for.
Got some other advice today to avoid looking at daily results. At the moment I mostly just feel relieved/neutral about a positive session, but a negative session can mess up my whole day. I’m gonna try out looking at results solely on a weekly basis and see how things feel. Will continue to post daily hand quantity but monetary results I’ll save for when I look at them weekly.
Very much behind on hands which isn’t a good feeling but I gotta just keep pushing forward with where I’m at right now and keep growing. I'm having more fun with GTO+ everyday and it’s starting to feel more like a toy.
Easy ways for me to better strategy going forward include:
- Review spots pre for incorrect calls or incorrect 3-bets
- Review hands where I called off in big pots
- Look at bet sizes on different board textures and how solver is choosing to bet
Steps and Running
Zero running yesterday and very low on steps but off on a run today as soon as I post this.
Today’s steps: 2,073 Steps completed: 160,655 Steps to complete: 149,345
Today’s miles: 0.0 Miles completed: 55.37 Miles to complete: 44.63
08-20-2020
, 10:57 PM
Behind on hands and yesterday I booked my first Zero. How did I get here?
Session Hands: 0
Total Hands All Stakes: 24,747 Hands left this month: 35,253
1. Over Stimulation
I’ve always been someone who wants all of the pleasures in every area. Financial freedom, good health, sex, quality relationships, intelligence, wisdom, creativity, the list goes on and on. It’s natural right? These are all great things. While this might be a byproduct of my need for control, I don’t think I should feel shame over this. The problem I run into is trying to get the mass amount out of each bucket all at once. If I feel like I’m not getting enough of one area, I obsess over that area until the need has been fulfilled. Dating is the most common bucket for this leak. Like bad tho lol. And not even actually dating but more the thought and work towards it.
Sunday my roommate and I looked at the screen time data on our phones for time spent on dating apps. He had spent like just under 2.5 hrs for the week, sub 20 min/day, fine frequency for a single dude during quarantine imo. I had spent 8 freaking hrs! 8 hours tho… For all the times I’ve been whining about sleep, here’s a full freaking night lol. Or it could be hands, steps, or study. Dude and that is some serious time over a large sample. I gotta understand this more when I’m doing it in the moment. I’ve always struggled with not clicking into the situation until time is a pinch. Procrastinator. Understanding temptations is something that I need to put some focus on.
2. Upper Limiting Problem
A prior coach/mentor of mine introduced me to a book called “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks. I enjoyed it but I hella auto-piloted the audio version during other activities. The focal point is the concept of the “Upper Limiting Problem” and I’d highly suggest reading the book or at least articles around this specifically. Trying to put it in my own words, the upper limiting problem occurs in moments when you achieve/receive everything you’re looking for, but then you sabotage it. It’s a different zone you’re in when you get there and even if it’s a better zone, different is outside of your comfort zone. In order to bring things back to your comfort zone, you self-sabotage until you’re on the other pole of the comfort zone. Then you’re kind of just ping ponging thru life.
My body clicks on more when good things happen but the current isn’t always directed correctly. Risk of ruin is higher and so there is more on the line to lose. The higher click is misdirected towards fear, which in turn makes the fear more likely to occur. Makes sense tho: fearing something = more attention towards it, more attention towards something = more likely for it to come to fruition, fearing losing something = more likely for it to be a possibility. Even more gnarly thinking about this is at the subconscious level. Need to figure out how to better direct the uptick.
3. Am I trying to learn/grow or am I trying to look good?
Vulnerability. Something that I always thought I was good at but as I get closer to the core, I think I may be one of the worst. The intention of the challenge this month was to set goals that will give me a structure to improve at poker and improve health/fitness levels. The good news is that it worked. Even if I cancelled the challenge the rest of the way and stopped right now, I would have accomplished both overall goals to a certain degree. The obstacle is when my ego sneaks in more and deep down I put more weight on looking good rather than the actual growth and learning process. Gotta get back to the roots. Good start here.
Steps and Running
Keep going.
Today’s steps: 8,247 Steps completed: 168,902 Steps to complete: 141,098
Today’s miles: 4.52 Miles completed: 59.89 Miles to complete: 40.11
Session Hands: 0
Total Hands All Stakes: 24,747 Hands left this month: 35,253
1. Over Stimulation
I’ve always been someone who wants all of the pleasures in every area. Financial freedom, good health, sex, quality relationships, intelligence, wisdom, creativity, the list goes on and on. It’s natural right? These are all great things. While this might be a byproduct of my need for control, I don’t think I should feel shame over this. The problem I run into is trying to get the mass amount out of each bucket all at once. If I feel like I’m not getting enough of one area, I obsess over that area until the need has been fulfilled. Dating is the most common bucket for this leak. Like bad tho lol. And not even actually dating but more the thought and work towards it.
Sunday my roommate and I looked at the screen time data on our phones for time spent on dating apps. He had spent like just under 2.5 hrs for the week, sub 20 min/day, fine frequency for a single dude during quarantine imo. I had spent 8 freaking hrs! 8 hours tho… For all the times I’ve been whining about sleep, here’s a full freaking night lol. Or it could be hands, steps, or study. Dude and that is some serious time over a large sample. I gotta understand this more when I’m doing it in the moment. I’ve always struggled with not clicking into the situation until time is a pinch. Procrastinator. Understanding temptations is something that I need to put some focus on.
2. Upper Limiting Problem
A prior coach/mentor of mine introduced me to a book called “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks. I enjoyed it but I hella auto-piloted the audio version during other activities. The focal point is the concept of the “Upper Limiting Problem” and I’d highly suggest reading the book or at least articles around this specifically. Trying to put it in my own words, the upper limiting problem occurs in moments when you achieve/receive everything you’re looking for, but then you sabotage it. It’s a different zone you’re in when you get there and even if it’s a better zone, different is outside of your comfort zone. In order to bring things back to your comfort zone, you self-sabotage until you’re on the other pole of the comfort zone. Then you’re kind of just ping ponging thru life.
My body clicks on more when good things happen but the current isn’t always directed correctly. Risk of ruin is higher and so there is more on the line to lose. The higher click is misdirected towards fear, which in turn makes the fear more likely to occur. Makes sense tho: fearing something = more attention towards it, more attention towards something = more likely for it to come to fruition, fearing losing something = more likely for it to be a possibility. Even more gnarly thinking about this is at the subconscious level. Need to figure out how to better direct the uptick.
3. Am I trying to learn/grow or am I trying to look good?
Vulnerability. Something that I always thought I was good at but as I get closer to the core, I think I may be one of the worst. The intention of the challenge this month was to set goals that will give me a structure to improve at poker and improve health/fitness levels. The good news is that it worked. Even if I cancelled the challenge the rest of the way and stopped right now, I would have accomplished both overall goals to a certain degree. The obstacle is when my ego sneaks in more and deep down I put more weight on looking good rather than the actual growth and learning process. Gotta get back to the roots. Good start here.
Steps and Running
Keep going.
Today’s steps: 8,247 Steps completed: 168,902 Steps to complete: 141,098
Today’s miles: 4.52 Miles completed: 59.89 Miles to complete: 40.11
08-25-2020
, 12:54 AM
Balanced Escape
I didn’t execute in Week 3. It’s not so much that my thoughts weren’t with poker, but more that they weren’t with the present. I’ve always known that I have a dreamy mind but this week made better clear how much I use my dreaminess as an escape mechanism. It’s wild of often I catch myself in different places. It makes me curious about the development of the habit and at what point in my childhood that I started doing it. We all did it in our least favorite classes and we all had different reasons to do it at home or with family. Those are strong opportunities to build all kinds of habits. High level of focus is such an asset. It starts with the foundations.
I think this is where I flip to the light sight of the upper limiting problem for me. The true upper limit is the self-sabotage right after I find success. The shift is the realization that I can get back to the fun surface level things once I mend to my foundations. This acknowledgement flips the energy direction back upwards to focus and flow. But in doing that, I slowly begin to lose focus on the foundations and the scale shifts. Levelheadedness must look like a balance between the sides. I want to escape into levelheadedness.
Week 3 Totals
Week 3 Steps: 47,425 Week 3 Benchmark: 70,000 Variance: -22,575
Week 3 Miles: 14.22 Week 3 Benchmark: 25 Variance: -10.78
Week 3 Hands: 4,562 Week 3 Benchmark: 14,000 Variance: -9,438
Poker
I haven’t played poker since August 18th. Six days off is a true break. If my natural interest is low but I feel confident in my game, the confidence and desire to learn gets me to the tables. If my natural interest is low and I’m not confident with my game, it’s taxing to get there. This is probably the best indicator to put focus on other areas until things feel different.
Steps and Running
One unposted run from Week 3:
I spent a lot of time inside during Week 3. Reflecting back on it, I can feel how strongly the low sunshine exposure messed with my circadian rhythm. I never set alarms and when I would naturally wake-up, the time of day would be hella disoriented. I’ve spent a decent amount of time outside the last couple of days and that has helped a lot with resetting the rhythm. Out of bed before 9 last three mornings
10-day Week 4
Steps and Running
8/23 was Kobe’s birthday and I wanted to run 8+ miles as tribute. Finished with 10.36
Week 4 miles: 10.36 Miles completed: 74.04 Miles to complete: 25.92
Week 4 Steps: 32,684 Steps completed: 217,693 Steps to complete: 92,307
Poker
I’ve officially thrown in the towel on the 60k hands. Lots to learn from the month and I will have plenty more opportunities for it. Not entirely sure what’s in store for Poker the rest of August, mostly just going day by day to get back into a flow. Good things ahead.
Hands completed: 24,747
I didn’t execute in Week 3. It’s not so much that my thoughts weren’t with poker, but more that they weren’t with the present. I’ve always known that I have a dreamy mind but this week made better clear how much I use my dreaminess as an escape mechanism. It’s wild of often I catch myself in different places. It makes me curious about the development of the habit and at what point in my childhood that I started doing it. We all did it in our least favorite classes and we all had different reasons to do it at home or with family. Those are strong opportunities to build all kinds of habits. High level of focus is such an asset. It starts with the foundations.
I think this is where I flip to the light sight of the upper limiting problem for me. The true upper limit is the self-sabotage right after I find success. The shift is the realization that I can get back to the fun surface level things once I mend to my foundations. This acknowledgement flips the energy direction back upwards to focus and flow. But in doing that, I slowly begin to lose focus on the foundations and the scale shifts. Levelheadedness must look like a balance between the sides. I want to escape into levelheadedness.
Week 3 Totals
Week 3 Steps: 47,425 Week 3 Benchmark: 70,000 Variance: -22,575
Week 3 Miles: 14.22 Week 3 Benchmark: 25 Variance: -10.78
Week 3 Hands: 4,562 Week 3 Benchmark: 14,000 Variance: -9,438
Poker
I haven’t played poker since August 18th. Six days off is a true break. If my natural interest is low but I feel confident in my game, the confidence and desire to learn gets me to the tables. If my natural interest is low and I’m not confident with my game, it’s taxing to get there. This is probably the best indicator to put focus on other areas until things feel different.
Steps and Running
One unposted run from Week 3:
I spent a lot of time inside during Week 3. Reflecting back on it, I can feel how strongly the low sunshine exposure messed with my circadian rhythm. I never set alarms and when I would naturally wake-up, the time of day would be hella disoriented. I’ve spent a decent amount of time outside the last couple of days and that has helped a lot with resetting the rhythm. Out of bed before 9 last three mornings
10-day Week 4
Steps and Running
8/23 was Kobe’s birthday and I wanted to run 8+ miles as tribute. Finished with 10.36
Week 4 miles: 10.36 Miles completed: 74.04 Miles to complete: 25.92
Week 4 Steps: 32,684 Steps completed: 217,693 Steps to complete: 92,307
Poker
I’ve officially thrown in the towel on the 60k hands. Lots to learn from the month and I will have plenty more opportunities for it. Not entirely sure what’s in store for Poker the rest of August, mostly just going day by day to get back into a flow. Good things ahead.
Hands completed: 24,747
08-27-2020
, 01:48 AM
Poker
Another quick 2-hour session today. Strong effort with focus via not checking phone or internet. Having said that, there was a very strong desire to do other things during the latter portion of my quick session. My mind would naturally go to thinking about getting in the run that I wanted to get in and meal prep. This tells me that I need to improve my focus level outside of playing so that I don’t have these desires as much while playing.
Session Hands: 539 Stake: 10nl 6-max Total Hands Completed: 25,811
Steps and Running
Solid activity day. Checked out a park I’d never been to before and got in a quick night run. Listened to Can’t Hurt Me on the run and I hit the point in the book where Goggins talks about the need to callus your mind, and that the physical training he puts himself through is for this purpose. I feel able to do this during physical activity and to consistently improve at it, but this is what I need to transfer over into Poker.
Today’s steps: 16,392 Steps completed: 246,421 Steps to complete: 63,579
Today’s miles: 4.86 Miles completed: 78.94 Miles to complete: 21.06
Another quick 2-hour session today. Strong effort with focus via not checking phone or internet. Having said that, there was a very strong desire to do other things during the latter portion of my quick session. My mind would naturally go to thinking about getting in the run that I wanted to get in and meal prep. This tells me that I need to improve my focus level outside of playing so that I don’t have these desires as much while playing.
Session Hands: 539 Stake: 10nl 6-max Total Hands Completed: 25,811
Steps and Running
Solid activity day. Checked out a park I’d never been to before and got in a quick night run. Listened to Can’t Hurt Me on the run and I hit the point in the book where Goggins talks about the need to callus your mind, and that the physical training he puts himself through is for this purpose. I feel able to do this during physical activity and to consistently improve at it, but this is what I need to transfer over into Poker.
Today’s steps: 16,392 Steps completed: 246,421 Steps to complete: 63,579
Today’s miles: 4.86 Miles completed: 78.94 Miles to complete: 21.06
08-27-2020
, 10:35 PM
Poker
Small session again today. Would play more but waking up at 4:30 and attempting to go to sleep at the proper time. Focus levels better during sessions. Short durations have helped with this but also consciously making it more of a priority rather than the churn and burn mentality.
Session Hands: 410 Stake: 10nl 6-max Total Hands Completed: 26,221
Steps and Running
Finish line in sights for miles. Steps very gettable.
Today’s steps: 13,942 Steps completed: 260,363 Steps to complete: 49,637
Today’s miles: 6.15 Miles completed: 85.09 Miles to complete: 14.91
Small session again today. Would play more but waking up at 4:30 and attempting to go to sleep at the proper time. Focus levels better during sessions. Short durations have helped with this but also consciously making it more of a priority rather than the churn and burn mentality.
Session Hands: 410 Stake: 10nl 6-max Total Hands Completed: 26,221
Steps and Running
Finish line in sights for miles. Steps very gettable.
Today’s steps: 13,942 Steps completed: 260,363 Steps to complete: 49,637
Today’s miles: 6.15 Miles completed: 85.09 Miles to complete: 14.91
09-01-2020
, 02:25 AM
Poker
Hands Day 28-31
Hands: 1,344 Stake: 10nl 6-max
Monthly Totals
Total Hands 25nl: 2,911 Monthly Result: -$328.63
Total Hands 10nl: 20,125 Monthly Result: +$51.77
Total Hands PokerBros 50nl: 4,529 Monthly Result: +$500.65 + $500 promo money
Total Hands August 2020: 27,565 August 2020 Goal: 60,000 Variance: -32,435
Missed my mark hard this month. I overestimated my abilities and where my process is at. Learning and focus are the muscles that I need to build. Consistency is the trainer I need to get to know. Lower my expectations but still push myself. Take better use of my time off. Get to a point where right where I’m at is right where I decide I want to be. It’s gonna take work to learn these things but I can do it.
Steps
Steps Day 28-31:
Day 28 steps: 9,488 Day 29 steps: 19,286 Day 30 steps: 16,168 Day 31 steps: 22,009
Total Steps August 2020: 327,314 August 2020 Goal: 310,000 Variance: +17,314
Steps goal accomplished. I left myself with more effort than I would have liked during the last leg. I needed to average 15.2k steps/day last 9 days to hit the number I hit. Better approach in the future will be to come out of the gates hot and then spread out consistently rest of way. Good finish.
Running
Miles Day 28-31:
Day 30 miles: 7.48
Day 31 miles: 14.28
Total Miles August 2020: 106.85 August 2020 Goal: 100 Variance: +6.85
Happy with this one. PR in distance on last run. “Can’t Hurt Me” David Goggins clutch the whole month and going to be a huge help going forward.
“Never look at yourself as being “behind schedule”, this is the path life has sent you down and there must be some valuable lessons here for you to learn before you make further progress. The goals are there to set the direction, life will choose the route. Your job is to get more and more clarity on the goal and recalibrate when you shift off course.”
Back at it in September
Hands Day 28-31
Hands: 1,344 Stake: 10nl 6-max
Monthly Totals
Total Hands 25nl: 2,911 Monthly Result: -$328.63
Total Hands 10nl: 20,125 Monthly Result: +$51.77
Total Hands PokerBros 50nl: 4,529 Monthly Result: +$500.65 + $500 promo money
Total Hands August 2020: 27,565 August 2020 Goal: 60,000 Variance: -32,435
Missed my mark hard this month. I overestimated my abilities and where my process is at. Learning and focus are the muscles that I need to build. Consistency is the trainer I need to get to know. Lower my expectations but still push myself. Take better use of my time off. Get to a point where right where I’m at is right where I decide I want to be. It’s gonna take work to learn these things but I can do it.
Steps
Steps Day 28-31:
Day 28 steps: 9,488 Day 29 steps: 19,286 Day 30 steps: 16,168 Day 31 steps: 22,009
Total Steps August 2020: 327,314 August 2020 Goal: 310,000 Variance: +17,314
Steps goal accomplished. I left myself with more effort than I would have liked during the last leg. I needed to average 15.2k steps/day last 9 days to hit the number I hit. Better approach in the future will be to come out of the gates hot and then spread out consistently rest of way. Good finish.
Running
Miles Day 28-31:
Day 30 miles: 7.48
Day 31 miles: 14.28
Total Miles August 2020: 106.85 August 2020 Goal: 100 Variance: +6.85
Happy with this one. PR in distance on last run. “Can’t Hurt Me” David Goggins clutch the whole month and going to be a huge help going forward.
“Never look at yourself as being “behind schedule”, this is the path life has sent you down and there must be some valuable lessons here for you to learn before you make further progress. The goals are there to set the direction, life will choose the route. Your job is to get more and more clarity on the goal and recalibrate when you shift off course.”
Back at it in September