The First Part of Focus...

... is to have something to focus on. Without a goal, there isn't much sense to be made of the steps.

And I realized today that this was part of what I was missing in my recent poker play. Sure, I WANT to win, but I was really aiming for that. I was playing to stay alive until I got lucky and doubled up and then went back to survival.

Poker isn't unlike stereograms. If you look at the picture itself, you just see a scrambled mess of dots, and perhaps see some vague pattern. But if you focus beyond the picture, the image pops into view. I've been looking all around, straining to see the final product, without letting all that blur while staying fixated on the goal at hand.

Tonight, I'll sit down at The Mookie with 1st place in my sights from moment one. I expect to be out around moment two.