Originally Posted by mythrilfox
cool question man, something i've thought a lot about. in my experience it's really easy to get caught up in generic narratives that sound reasonable on the face of it - usually stuff that you've heard someone good say at some point in time or thought about yourself beforehand - but in reality don't accurately capture the situation. this can be extraordinarily difficult to realize because by default humans are extremely, extremely biased. we constantly seek out evidence to confirm our preconceptions and ignore evidence that contradicts them. to boot, when our brains get overloaded with stimuli, which happens often in poker, we resort more and more to this type of thinking because it is easy and natural. trying to understand things statistically & trying to question our assumptions do not come naturally to us. so, for example, if you have a preconception that someone who is loose-passive preflop doesn't bluff postflop, you could go your entire life thinking this is true even when it isn't. every time they show down a value hand you will nod emphatically, but every time they show down a bluff it will skip off the surface of your mind like a stone. this is just what we as humans do. we don't think probabilistically and we latch onto familiar narratives with the jaws of death. it takes a lot of deliberate practice to overcome it. you have to catch yourself doing it over and over again.
every situation in poker is so unique that it can be very dangerous to overgeneralize with simplistic narratives. every spot that comes up carries with it a unique combination of timing, history, observed hands, statistical reads, stack size, board texture, betsizing, etc. when you really focus on everything that's going on, the narratives get to be more and more complex and specific to each situation. there are certainly themes and ideas that carry from hand to hand, but general ideas like "big bets are value" don't necessarily hold from spot to spot. (there are some exceptions to this, like the vast majority of people still don't bluffraise rivers enough)
i think i've gotten the hang of this pretty well over the past year for the first time in my career. now i'm more or less hyper aware of my thought process during a hand. meditation has helped with that - it's allowed me to really observe what i'm thinking and to be able to critically evaluate it as opposed to "getting caught up in it." normally i'm not crazy about hippy-dippy phraseology like that, but i'm not sure how else to describe it. i also play fewer tables than most people and focus as much as possible on every single decision. if i ever feel my focus waning, i either gather myself up and get back to it or quit. it feels like it takes an absurd amount of effort at first, and it does. like you i still struggle with feeling like i have enough time. i have literally had to ban myself from certain zoom-type games because my thought process gets too rushed, and i get really anxious if i don't have a timebank. it gets easier as time goes on, and maybe i'll get quick enough to where i can play those games in the future, but right now i still feel more rushed than i'd like and am still drained by the end of a session more often than i'd like. it's improved significantly, though.
i would also recommend studying away from the tables quite a bit. this allows you to hone your thinking in a calmer setting with more time to go through hands. the more you do this, the more automatic it will become. i had to start doing it on a very consistent basis for it to stick, otherwise i'd just constantly have to remind myself of things i'd learned. i would say at least 1/4 of your time should be spent studying under most circumstances, and probably a good bit more than that if you're just starting out.
talking out loud is definitely reasonable, but make sure that you're doing it because it allows you to deconstruct your thought process more finely. sometimes talking out loud can just echo your internal thought process exactly. you could also try recording yourself playing in real-time and voicing your thought process through a mic, as if you were making a coaching video, and then go through it later.
finally, make sure your mental game is in order. it's very difficult to try and play well or even be aware of your thought process if you're constantly tilted, frustrated, etc. jared tendler's books are fantastic for this. i like tommy angelo's stuff quite a bit as well, esp for the meditation side of things.
however you go about this, it's extremely important that you take your time enough to do it correctly and deliberately from the get-go. be COMPLETELY honest with yourself about what you don't know and fierce about trying to correct it. question your assumptions - there are probably a lot of bad ones in there, and they can be very sticky. most of all, be patient with yourself. i know some of this sounds tedious & time-consuming, and it certainly can be, but it can also be extremely rewarding and, well, it can dramatically affect the rest of your life. it has for me.
good luck man!