A Guide to a Stronger Mentality

A good mental state during a chess game is vital for better results. Sometimes it is the only thing separating two players. Even a strong player can collapse unexpectedly if they don't keep their mind disciplined, while a disciplined mind can work wonders for underdogs.

This article will guide you in changing your mentality to perform at your best, even in difficult situations. I successfully used these strategies in my last tournament, and the ease with which I completed it was beyond my ability to explain with words. I won the tournament after starting much lower in the rankings. These strategies have been tested before, and I promise that you won't be disappointed using them.

Here they are,

Remove your negative emotions

Remove all negative emotions by persuading your mind that the things that cause these emotions are beyond your control. Even if you had tried your best, there would always be at least a 0.1% chance of failure, which would cause the whole mission to collapse upon activation. But you can't do better than that. You can't do better than a 99.9% chance of success.

For instance, imagine you are in a blitz tournament, facing a highly rated opponent. Just as you have a winning move that would checkmate your opponent, the arbiter approaches and informs you that you are at the correct table, but you are playing the wrong person! These kinds of situations are beyond your control. It's a case of activation of that 0.1%. But this instance would cause emotions such as anger, disappointment and sadness to fire within you, which would ultimately ruin your next games.

So don't give much importance to emotions that depend on results beyond your control. Be happy with trying to make the changes go your way. Not the changes themselves. Detach yourself from the results. Enjoy the process. Enjoy trying to find the best moves, not winning the game. This way, your mind will not get occupied with negativity, leaving more room for you to focus on the task at hand.

It's not an obstacle, it's an opportunity

See every obstacle as an opportunity to grow. Learning from mistakes is part of the process. Once you detach yourself from results and learn to enjoy the improvement process, you will automatically be driven towards enjoying learning. But to learn, you need obstacles. So see them as a helping hand for your journey of improvement. Embrace them, defeat them.

Be Peaceful

Once you have removed all the negativity and start seeing every obstacle as an opportunity to learn, it will lead your mind to a peaceful state where you are detached from the world around you. Nothing would matter anymore. You would feel like you could do anything. You will be hyper-focused on whatever you do, whether you like it or not. You will see every moment as an opportunity for personal growth and improvement. Hence, every moment will only make you happier. But it is not happiness that comes from achieving goals; it's happiness that comes from knowing that the only important thing is self-improvement and that the results of this process don't matter at all, as they are beyond your control. Self-improvement is the only thing that is completely in your control. And knowing that you are living every moment to ensure it will always bring peace to your mind.

Summary

The baseline of my wisdom is that you should live every moment to its fullest, as every moment is one step closer towards our lifetime goal of self-improvement. Every moment is a new opportunity, a reason to be excited. Keep on learning to fulfil the goal of self-improvement while enjoying the delights the presence has to offer.

That's it for today, hope you found today's article worthy of your time and until next time, bye-bye.

Credits for the wisdom:
THE MONK WHO SOLD HIS FERRARI - ROBIN SHARMA