Tag mindset

Does the way we think about anything happening in our life determine how we respond to it?

Yes. 

We can even create physical changes in our body through our mind and literally think ourselves younger. 

Let me share a couple of mind blowing results showing how our mindset shapes our reality.

Example #1: The Placebo effect

The placebo effect is probably one of the best examples proving how powerful our minds really are. 

The fact that your brain can convince your body that a fake treatment is real and thus stimulate healing is exactly what the placebo effect is.

You believe that a procedure will work, and only because of your belief it works.

Example #2: Can the way we think about stress change our physical and mental reality?

Dr Alia Crum made a study with a group of 300 employees that had stress in their work life. 

Crum wanted to see if she could change their mindset about stress and by doing so create both physical and psychological changes in their work lives.

She divided the employees into two groups.

One group saw a video with the perspective that stress is debilitating. 

It shared perspectives on how harmful stress is for the body and mind, and how it decreases performance and well being.

The other group saw a video clip with the perspective that stress is enhancing. 

It shared perspectives on how we can grow through stress, how we can get more energy and increase our performance.

Both groups were shown facts, but the facts were orientated towards one view or the other.

The results?

The second group who watched the video with a positive perspective on stress reported fewer negative health symptoms over the next few weeks.

They also reported less muscle tension, less insomnia, and higher levels of engagement and performance at work compared to the group who watched the first video clip before work.

Example #3: Can we think ourselves younger?

In 1979 the Harvard psychologist Allan Langer recruited two groups of elderly men to live for a week in a monastery in New Hampshire to take part in a study on the power of belief and its effect on aging.

The first group were told to live as if the clock turned back 20 years overnight. They were to live as a younger version of themselves.

They were encouraged to discuss events from their younger days. 

All mirrors were removed, and replaced with photos of them being younger, so this is what they saw every day in the monastery.

The second group were told to remain in the present time period, but were told to reminisce about the past.

The study only lasted one week, but the changes were astounding.

Both groups showed improvements both physical, mental, and emotional, however the changes were most profound from those who were in group one; the ones who had embodied their younger selves.

All of the men were more flexible. 

63 % of them demonstrated higher intelligence scores after just one week.

All of the men in the first group noted improvements in all 5 senses –  from an ability to taste better to better sight, hearing, etc. 

They had literally thought themselves younger. 

I am sharing these studies to show the incredible power of our thoughts. 

Mindset manipulation can counteract presumed physiological limits. 

How crazy is this?

What’s the takeaway?

Realize that you have a supercomputer between your ears that you are probably not utilizing to its fullest.

If you agree with the statement that your mind and thoughts create your reality, then why are you not taking it seriously?

I want you to become conscious about the way you think.

How is your mindset on loss and variance? 

How is your mindset on poker and your ability to make good decisions, have a sharp focus and make a lot of money?

How is your mindset on work life balance?

How is your mindset on study?

How is your mindset on general obstacles?

How is your mindset on your own abilities? 

These are crucial questions to become aware about.

Because you can literally change your reality by shifting your perspective.

So my question to you is:

Who’s coaching you in 2023 to help you take advantage of your mind to create a new, better reality for yourself? Join our Discord Channel and reach out to our Mindset Coach Peter Rasmussen. 

The mental game is everything, once you are at a certain skill-level.

I will cover two specific reasons why the mental game is important if you want to be an elite poker player:

Reason #1: Play more A-game. 

You can learn how to play your A-game more often, reduce B- and C-game and thus dramatically improve your win rate

Reason #2: Improve your overall life.

When you improve your mental game you will also be better at mastering your life away from the tables. 

Let’s explore the two reasons separately. 

Play more A-game

We all have different levels of how well we play. 

We can call these levels A, B, and C.

When we play our A-game we might win 20 ante per 100 hands.

When we play our B-game we might win 10 ante per 100 hands.

When we play our C-game we might lose 5 ante per 100 hands.

When you move your performance away from your worst game and towards your best game it can have dramatic effects on your win rate.

Simply doubling the time you play your A-game and reducing the time you play your C-game by 66 % could make you 60 % more EV over 100.000 hands. 

These results are simple to achieve with the right knowledge, models, and practice.

Improve your overall life

I see over and over again that highly skilled poker players find it difficult to manage their private life. 

Structure, goals, feelings, motivation, fulfillment, gratitude, and consistency are keywords that can be tough to master.

If you do not master these elements, you will likely burn out. 

You will likely become stressed. 

You will probably stay in your comfort zone. 

You won’t achieve your potential.

You won’t feel fulfilled, even though you crush the tables in periods.

The flipside?

Master your life outside the tables.

This will make you go full circle; you will become a highly skilled and mentally strong player.

You will feel better on a day to day basis.

You will have true passion and a burning drive to play great and to play more.

You will become more focused and concentrated.

You will be a better partner, father, son, friend, and family member. Your relationships will skyrocket.

You will become more healthy. 

My endnote is this…

Your biggest opponent is not on the tables. Your biggest opponent is you.

When you decide to work with your mind, everything will change.

Feel free to ask me any question on discord. There’s also a mental strategy thread at the 6+ discord forum + an ongoing meditation challenge where we help each other to stay consistent.

Peter Rasmussen

Poker Mindset Coach

Those are the most common obstacles I hear from mid-high stakes poker players.

They know what to do, and how to do it.

But they still don’t do it.

Why’s that?

It’s simple.

Their subconscious autopilot is programmed in a way that’s holding them back. 

— 

We are creatures of habit.

When we make the same decisions over and over it becomes a subconscious pattern. 

Those subconscious patterns control everything we do, without us realising it.

Now we are programmed to repeat the same patterns on autopilot.

But how is this autopilot created?

— 

Much of our subconscious autopilot has been programmed during our childhood.

We are highly susceptible in our younger years.

We don’t have much critical thinking.

We experience events and make meaning of them. 

Our mind and body saves automatic responses (pain or pleasure) to avoid or seek more of the same in the future.

We also form many of our beliefs in our childhood. 

For instance…

I am lazy. I don’t like to study. I am not intelligent. I don’t deserve to be wealthy. I am a quitter. I have to create extraordinary results to be loved. If I fail, then I am not good enough.

These beliefs create our self-image. 

And self image is one of the most underrated performance hacks.

Because people rarely rise above their opinion of themselves. 

— 

So why do we procrastinate and self sabotage?

Because of our subconscious autopilot that’s controlling 95 % of what we do without us being aware.

And if your autopilot is programmed to avoid failure, to avoid pain at all cost, and to seek short term pleasure – then procrastination and self sabotage is certain.

Your subconscious autopilot will always steer you back to the old patterns.

That’s why more skills are rarely the solution.

You can point your conscious, goal-driven, mind in whatever direction you want.

But 95 % of the time, you are not doing that.

As soon as your willpower drifts off, your subconscious starts to take over.

Hello, procrastination. Hello self sabotage.

— 

Here’s an example:

A client wants to study more.

A normal coach would teach him time management skills. 

Teach him how to structure his day and create time slots for study.

That can definitely work.

But so often time management skills are not the best solution.

Working with the deeper root cause is the best solution.

It could be fear of structure. 

It could be a subconscious belief that “I am not good at studying”. 

When we start to address our subconscious patterns, and reprogram ourselves consciously, that’s when we learn the most amazing capability. 

Self mastery.

Before you spend money on GTO, time-management strategies, and other “hard skills”…

Work on yourself.

Self mastery is THE most important skill for mid-high stakes poker players.

When we have self mastery we become the best version of ourselves. 

And then we start to create amazing results + feel way better about everything.

I made a quick guide on how to deal with your subconscious autopilot so you can avoid procrastination and self sabotage + create more self mastery.

Join our discord and DM @Peter Rasmussen | Mindset Coach

When I was done with my coaching certification… 

I was terrified of asking people to pay for my coaching.

Why?

I had skills. I had knowledge. I had my certification. I had good reviews. I had experience. 

I had coached roughly 50 sessions for free.

But there was something holding me back from the next level.

And that something is the key to everything.

How many times have you tried to change?

How many times have you sat down to study…  

… only to find yourself opening social media, checking your phone, or realising that it’s better to clean the house?

How many times have you told yourself to focus on poker when you’re playing… 

… only to find yourself opening up youtube, discord, or other social media?

How many times have you told yourself that you want to exercise and eat more healthy…

… only to find yourself skip today’s workout and eat exactly what you did last week?

You consciously want to be better…

But your behavior is not aligned.

It comes down to one problem…

Your subconscious.

How your subconscious is keeping you stuck

Neuroscience has shown that we have two parts of our brains.

The conscious and the subconscious.

The conscious is the rational, logical, mind. 

The one you set goals with.

The subconscious is the ancient, emotional, habitual mind. 

This is what’s driving a lot of your behavior, without you really thinking about it.

Various research shows that roughly 95 % of our brain’s activity is subconscious.

It is created through patterns. 

Repeated thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that you have conditioned into your mind a lot of times.

This is now your identity.

Who you are.

Only problem?

We are not really aware of how we have ‘programmed’ this part of our mind.

Meaning you are likely to have limiting beliefs, emotional blockages, and disempowering behavioral habits, that you’re not really thinking about.

You’re just living it.

And let me tell you this.

It’s very difficult to get lasting results when your subconscious mind is programmed in a way that’s not aligned with your conscious goals…

Because then you start to…

• Procrastinate…
• Self sabotage…
• Stay in your comfort zone…
• Come up with excuses for why you don’t want to change anyway…

Sounds familiar?

The secret to it all

This is what most coaches fail to tell you.

They only focus on the surface level stuff… 

Like I did in the beginning.

Because I didn’t know better.

And that can be good…

But most often, it’s not really moving the needle.

What really moves the needle is to work with both the conscious and subconscious mind.

The conscious mind is easy. That’s the surface level.

So let me tell you how to rewire your subconscious mind.

How to rewire your subconscious mind

I use three techniques to work with the subconscious mind

1. Meditation
2. Visualization
3. Coaching

Meditation

Research has shown that people who practice mindfulness meditation are better at seeing their subconscious patterns.

To meditate means to “become familiar with”. 

Subconscious means “below awareness”. 

Pretty good match, right?

It is an active training of your mind to become more aware of what’s going on inside of it.

When you train your brain to not just follow what pops up… 

But take a step back and observe it first… 

Then you have increased your ability to make a conscious decision.

Visualization

Visualization is one of my favorite tools.

Brain scans have shown how the mind can physically change simply by imagining something.

The effect is not as powerful as doing it in real life.

But it is a great short cut to condition your subconscious mind into new thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Remember, the more you do something, the more it gets ingrained into your subconscious. 

It is much easier to start to visualize your dreams … to visualize how you overcome obstacles … than actually jumping out of bed and doing it straight away.

Coaching

Coaching is a wide term. 

For me it means to help you get from point A to point B AND teach you how to do it yourself.

For me, asking questions is the heart and soul of coaching.

Coaching is more of a “conscious mind tool” but it can still make an impact on your subconscious.

Because coaching is great for clarity, perspective-shifts, and awareness.

Clarity and awareness is all about figuring out “who am I, and who do I want to be?”

This can lead to a shift in your perspective.

An aha-moment.

Aha-moments have the potential to instantly rewire the way you think.

What should you do now?

I want you to reach out to me if this post resonated with you.

I’ll help you get started with one of the three tools.

Join our discord and talk with Peter Rasmussen in one of our Poker Mindset channels or book a private coaching session.

In poker, there’s so much falling under the “mindset” umbrella.

• Emotional management
• Reframing / Perspective management
• Focus
• Motivation
• Structure
• Productivity
• Goal management

… and so much more.

Take a good look at your poker mindset right now, and answer this question:

How well are you managing your poker mindset from 1-10?

When you are a winning poker player, you have to be professional.

You have to treat your mindset like a professional.

Where to start?

The good news is that there’s a very specific place for you to start to improve your poker mindset.

Working on this one thing is going to influence everything under that “Mindset Umbrella”.

And it is…

Drumroll…

Your thoughts.

Let me tell you a quick story.

I worked with a highly skilled coach for a period.

95 % of the time we solved my thoughts.

We uncovered limitations in my thinking. 

We found the holes that were creating negative results.

We explored new thoughts.I practiced thinking new thoughts on purpose.

That’s it peeps.

Behavior is a by-product of thoughts + feelings.

So when you commit to higher quality thoughts, you create higher quality feelings and then higher quality behavior follows.

So all of that…

• Tilt
• Lack of motivation
• Feeling blue after a losing session
• Being unfocused and distracted
• Procrastination

… decreases all of a sudden.

Now don’t get me wrong. These elements will probably always be in your life to some extent. 

But when you learn how to manage your thoughts you create the ability to change everything in your life to the better.

One of the best exercises to start managing your thoughts

I learned this exercise from another coach. It’s called a thought download.

It’s really simple…

But really powerful.

Thought Download (do this for seven days in a row):

1. Grab a piece of paper and leave it on your desk next to your keyboard
2. After/during each session I want you to write down all the negative thoughts that appear in your mind. For instance:

• Why am I so unlucky all the time?

• I just can’t win a hand!

• That guy is so lucky…

1. After seven days you go through your negative thoughts. Identify the most limiting ones.
2. Create two empowering reframes for each limiting thought you identified.
3. Keep your reframes in front of you in each session. Practice thinking about them on demand.
4. After a while your empowering reframes will be your new default and voila, massive sustainable change is achieved.

That’s it.

This is where you start to improve your poker mindset.

Doing this work is really simple. It doesn’t take a lot of time and energy. 

And it has the potential to change your life completely.

If you want feedback on your thought download, you can join the SixPlus Discord Community and write to me. I am happy to help!

Bonus exercise to help you getting started with your poker mindset

As per this date there’s a meditation challenge running in the SixPlus Discord channel. 

We motivate and help each other to meditate every day.  The challenge runs until April 1 2022. 

But new challenges will emerge after this one. So head into the SixPlus Discord Community and find the meditation challenge thread. Hope to see you there!

“Peter, I never tilt, it’s not a problem.”

If you say you never tilt, you’re probably lying (or very unaware).

Yes, I said that. Calling you a liar.

Tilt isn’t just “raging, shouting and beating your fist into the wall” after a bad beat.

Tilt is when you get affected by emotions and play worse than before.

Sure, frustration and anger are the usual suspects when we tilt.

But what about feeling bored? Feeling injustice? Feeling bullied? Feeling sad? Feeling lonely?

There’s a variety of feelings that can impact your winrate (often without you knowing it).

If you read this article, I’m sure that you will experience less tilt in the future and be able to win more money consistently.

Your tilt won’t disappear magically, but I can help you become aware about what tilt you experience and help you take control over your mind to reduce it.

How most players try to deal with tilt

“I normally try to realize when I tilt and tell myself to stop it”.

These are the words of one of my clients.

He’s a good NL200-500 reg and has a strong mindset.

But every time he tried to tell himself “do not tilt” it didn’t work.

Why?

Because it does not treat the root cause and it doesn’t offer him a better perspective.

And that leads me to the two most effective ways to stop tilt in poker.

Strategy #1: Create a tilt profile

It sounds boring to create a tilt profile. I get it.

And what is it anyway?

Well, a tilt profile is all about understanding your tilt and where it comes from.

“Peter, I know my tilt. I just get fucking angry and start playing bad”.

That’s not good enough.

I want you to expand your awareness. I want you to know why your tilt comes and the deeper roots behind it.

To make your tilt profile answer these questions now:

• What are the trigger/s that make me tilt?
• What emotions do I feel?
• What situations in my life may be adding to the limiting state of this feeling?

Here’s an example:

1. Triggers: Playing vs the aggressive reg who seemed to own me
2. Emotions: I felt bullied. I felt weak. I felt like I was a bad player.
3. Bigger picture: I guess this could have something to do with me being bullied in school. I experienced XYZ … and I now understand how experiencing something ‘similar’ on the poker table creates such an intense feeling in me.

Now these are golden nuggets. This is awareness on a new level.

Awareness is essential to start treating the root cause and not just put band aid on the symptoms.

Strategy #2: Choose your perspective

What creates tilt?

Your perspective.

Nothing else.

It’s not you being unlucky. It’s not you losing money.

It’s how you put your perspective on being unlucky or losing money.

Get it?

Let me give you an example.

What perspective do you think creates the most tilt?

“That guy is so fucking lucky all the time against me”

or

“Okay, he got lucky there. But if I keep playing my A-game I will eventually win over this guy. These situations are what allows me to make a living out of the game.”

The perspectives are on the exact same situation. You got unlucky, and villain won the pot.

It’s so important to realize that you can choose a perspective that helps you feel better.

It seems so simple, right?

But we often lose control over our thoughts in the heat of the moment.

That’s when we go down the rabbit hole of creating limiting thoughts.

Thoughts that lead to tilt.

Right now I want you to:

1. Identify three thoughts that often occurs when you are tilting
2. Write three reframes that helps you feel better

Ready, set, go.

Don’t skip it!

I get it. Reading about the work is much easier than doing it.

So now, I want you to make a conscious decision.

Decide to do the two steps now.

Don’t think about it. Grab a piece of paper or open Google Docs and write.

It has the potential to make your winrate explode and help you in more areas of life than poker.

I know that doing mindset work on your own can be tough!

Do you want help with emotional management, mindset and effective ways to deal with tilt (and much more)?

Reach out to me. You can learn more about me and my coaching at www.pokerlifecoach.com

I only have a couple spots left for clients, so no promises.

Join one of the best free communities for poker mindset work

Join the SixPlusHoldem Discord server today to learn more about the mental game of poker. We have a mindset channel where we discuss tilt, meditation, and other mindset strategies for being a better poker player. Take your game to the next level today.

See you there.

Your Mindset Coach
Peter Rasmussen