A Lifehack to Speed up the Growth in Chess
All you need to execute this hack is a mental gun.
In 2018, when I came back from Thailand and started to work on launching ChessMood, I was waking up at 4 AM and working until 9 PM to make money to pay everyone’s salaries…
From 8 AM to 9 PM I was working with the team.
6 days a week like this…
But then one day, a crazy thought came to me.
“If there was a gun to my head that would shoot me if I don’t make the deadlines I set for myself, would I take the same actions that I am taking right now?”
I would like to say “Yes!”
I would like to yell “Of course, you don’t see how much I am working?!”
But in my heart, in my soul, I felt that despite how much time I was working, despite all the craziness I had in that period of my life, I could do better…
I could do things much smarter and faster…
Of course, I adjusted many things and could speed up everything.
But this article is not about me. It’s about you 😉
Action vs lie
Often, I see people spending many hours on social media, playing lots of bullet chess but at the same time saying they’re “doing their best” to raise 300 points in 1 year.
“Doing their best”
This is a lie that, unfortunately, many people tell themselves.
This is a lie, that many people use to justify the position they’re in their lives now or in their chess career. It doesn’t really matter where.
What matters is that this lie should be stopped...
Now if I ask you the same question about the gun to your head, what would be your answer? Answer it honestly. Only you’ll hear it. Not me, not the other readers.
It’s not my life, neither our readers. It’s yours.
And if the answer was NO, and you believe you could do better, you should stop the “I do my best”. Instead, make a plan of the changes you need to make, examine the unproductive activities that you have in your life right now that you could remove, focus on how you’re going to speed up your growth, and at the end do this one thing...
TAKE ACTION!
Healthy Pressure
I don’t suggest that you should go to the black market and try to buy a gun 😀😀
No, no!
It’s possible to add healthy pressure in a more civilized way 🙂
Do you have a goal and have a deadline?
Let’s imagine you want to raise +100 points in the next 6 months and you fully believe in it.
Say it loud. Write a post on your social media page, tell it to your friend.
Add a “mental gun”. If I don’t make it, I’ll…
It’s up to you what you’ll do. But make it something which you don’t want to do at all.
I know a guy who said, “If I don’t make it, I’ll go to the dentist and ask him to pull out my two front teeth.”
You can say “I’ll shave my head,” – anything which will be painful for your soul 😄
After you make the commitment, you’ll see how differently you’ll wake up the next morning. You’ll see how much your thoughts, your plans to achieve your goal, and your actions have changed.
Is it for everyone?
I don’t recommend doing this for everyone.
Especially if your mindset is “I’ll see where I can get” or “I just want to become better”.
But if your goal is really important to you, you’re obsessed with it, and day and night you’re thinking about it, the healthy pressure will help you to achieve it.
P.S. Did you say “Yes” or “No” after imagining the gun on your head?
Did you make a commitment out loud?
You can share this in our forum.
Originally published Nov 28, 2020