Pursuing my own goals
Just had a discussion with my mom, one that we’ve had many times already, one that is really draining, but one that is really important and one that many of you guys have/had as well. What we do here, playing poker, streaming, creating content etc., is something that a lot of people do not understand.
I have been working around 80 hours a week easily for the past 6 weeks, before that I was wasting my time a bit too much on all kinds of stuff. I haven’t been going out partying, chilling in the sun, boating or any of those “fun things”. Which is something your parents or your friends, who do not have the same goals as you, not the same work ethic, not the same mindset, don’t understand. Constantly they try to pull you out of that bubble of dedication, patience, focus. Examples are:
– After having a losing session in the casino: “you’re better off online, maybe you just don’t have a pokerface”
– After having a losing session online and want to start grinding the next day: “Going to lose money again. Maybe you should take a day off”.
– After losing in general: “If you are so good (never said I was btw), why do you lose all the time then?
As you can see, most of these questions come out of lack of knowledge, I don’t blame any of them, I get it, they just want the best for me. But it is really taxing on my psyche, but as I know they want the best for me I just keep on explaining. But when people have different views on things, the majority are hearing you, but aren’t listening, sometimes you just gotta agree to disagree. Constantly you are having the battle of trying to keep the negativity out of your head, poker on itself is already a tough monster to tame. It’s draining.
Overcommunicate
What I have been doing to battle this, is just by having the conversation, how annoying it may be. Just over communicate. Be really clear about what your goals are, explain that it is a long and tedious grind, that “entrepreneurship” is not the easiest nor quickest way. Everyone wants to be an entrepreneur nowadays, some of them really aren’t, but either way, it is something only a select few will achieve. Who achieve it? Not the ones that go out partying every weekend or chill in the sun every day. Tell them that you rather try and fail and have them say: “I told you so”, than that you give up and follow the masses and go for the route with the least resistance, to then when you are ninety-years-old regret that you gave up. Gotta own your successes but also your failures.
At the end of the day team, live your own life and not someone else’s. Follow your own dreams, your own goals, try out as many things as possible and do what you enjoy the most and not what others enjoy the most. Because when you don’t, you may regret it later on. You only have one life, our time is limited, spend it the best way you can.
I do want to end here with a post of Fedor Holz, because I think it illustrates beautifully what I just wrote. Personally I felt so much better when I was around people with the same mindset/people that were cheering for me, made me feel less lonely. People always say that it is lonely at the top, in my opinion (haven’t been completely at the top yet, but I do believe it is true) it is more lonely to be in an environment with people that you have a deep relationship with that are trying to hold you back, than to be at the top with people with whom you may not have the deepest relationships with but do have the same mindset. Either way, having the conversation with people and try to zone the negativity out is one option, moving out/on is another.
I really believe that the environment I am in is everything. When I quit my studies at university and started playing poker I was surrounded by some people with different priorities who tried to convince me to go back to studying. At that time I felt quite depressed and was losing money at poker. Shoutout to the ones who supported me! Between then and becoming a winning player, I don’t think much changed in terms of my poker skill and knowledge...the biggest change was the environment I was in. I moved to Vienna surrounded by people that shared my interest and I could totally focus on poker and have been successful from then on. That’s why I’m working on creating an environment now that constantly improves individual growth! *- Fedor Holz