Quote Mania 6

Welcome to Quote Mania, where random quotes are forcefully related to go!

'The second you think you are doing well is the second you are finished.'

This.
This is so relevant I shouldn't be giving an explanation. I will give one, because I want to, but I shouldn't have to.

Hands up if you have ever lost a game you (thought) you had won. If your hand isn't up right now, I think you might not be human.
We've all had that game where everything just goes right. You're in a good mood, your opponent is challenging, but not better than you, and you are winning. Nothing could possibly go wrong. Right?

Usually this is where I lose focus on the game and lose. Either I was really winning and made a (stupid) mistake, or I wasn't winning at all, I was just being delusional. One way or the other, I get overconfident and lose.

It's not a bad thing to know if you are ahead or not in the game. You should count during the game! But when you then find out you are winning, getting overconfident is pretty much the worst that could happen. It makes you greedy, unfocused and generally not a nice person.

Overconfidence = bad. Stop it.

Which is a lot easier said than done.

Keep your head in the game

Accidents can happen anywhere, and any time.

For example, when you’re  biking and don’t look ahead. And then bike into a (parked) van and have to spend half of your day at the hospital because your thumb is dislocated.

But that just sounds crazy right? I mean, who is so stupid?

….

Anyway, this incident (that absolutely didn’t happen), reminded me that you have to keep paying attention.

Just because you CAN bike the way from university to home with your eyes closed, doesn’t mean you should.

The same goes for go actually. Did you ever lose a (almost) won game because of a careless mistake? I have. Too often really.

It’s a quite frustrating and makes you look silly. After such a thing happens I will just repeat to myself how stupid the mistake was, and forget to look at the rest of the game, even though reviewing the whole game would be much more effective.

The same goes when my opponent does that. Sometimes the game is pretty close (or I think it is) and then my opponent makes a big mistake. I will feel stupid if I ignore it, but I also won’t be happy when I win because of that.

The frustration!!!

Moral of the story: don’t lose your concentration, just because you THINK you don’t need it. Because you do. My thumb is the (painful) living proof.

That title is not from high school musical. At all.

I was 14, don’t judge me!