In school and in the office, there is usually someone watching you and making sure you are doing what you are supposed to be doing. You can be slack when they are not looking, but you still have to report to someone at the end of the day, week, or semester. For most people, this is a deciding factor in doing what you are supposed to be doing. However, this factor does not exist in poker: you have no one to report to, no one expecting or demanding that you do anything. You are, for better or for worse, your own boss. When the only one you have to report to is yourself, it takes a good deal of discipline to do what you are supposed to do.
… Or at least you should. If you’re taking it easy on yourself when it comes to what you’re aiming for, this should be fine. However, if you’re serious about your poker career as far as it can take you, your goals probably shouldn’t be so lax. You should challenge yourself.
The previous lesson talked about realistic goals in building a bankroll, with the basic conclusion being that it takes time, because the relative profits that are made are low compared to the limits we play. If you can make one or two big bets an hour, how many hours of play does it take, for example, to log in and play while drunk cost you? I'm not saying that you can't be very drunk, but recklessness can easily set you back weeks in terms of bankroll growth. This is not necessary.
You also need discipline when it comes to other things, like studying. If you tell yourself that you’re going to sit down and carefully analyze your hands for three hours a week—because you know how important it is to your development as a player—your work doesn’t end there. Making decisions is easy, but actually doing them is hard. “Easier said than done” is rarely truer than when it comes to planning your homework. But, as with studying, again, I want to point out that while you will need discipline to put in the time you promised yourself you would, the part that requires the most discipline is self-criticism, so let me talk about that.
Psychologically, most people are very defensive. There are, for example, countless courses on how to give and accept criticism because of this. I see some people for work. If we were computers, taking criticism would be very easy. Someone tells us we screwed up, we look at the situation, objectively decide that he is right and adjust. However, in reality, someone telling us that we screwed up will trigger all sorts of self-defense mechanisms in our mind. The most common reaction is to claim that the criticism does not apply to us. The second is to argue (or at least feel) that we did not screw up at all, and to dismiss the critic as ignorant: he would not bluff in this situation! or to blame something or someone. The third way we defend ourselves against criticism is by making excuses.
Taking criticism and internalizing it is tough, and for me personally, it’s even harder to criticize something that I know can be accepted and understood. However, when you’re asking someone else to review your game, in most cases you’re not asking someone who’s trained to know how to give criticism in the best way, so chances are he or she won’t be as subtle or as harsh as they need to be. And again, you need discipline and someone to help you. But even after getting hurt and being teased by other players, you need to swallow your pride and keep asking for more feedback. This is the part that really takes discipline, but it will be worth it.
Now, speaking of painful situations, I have one more piece of advice that ties into the discipline of this lesson: the importance of being honest with yourself when things aren’t working out the way you’d like. Maybe you’re not putting in as many hours of studying as you had planned. Maybe you’ve been on a terrible downswing and have been hesitant to reevaluate your bankroll to see how badly you’re doing. But you already know you should, and the only thing standing between you and something you can and should do is actually doing it. Discipline.
“Easier said than done.” Yes, it is.
Translated and adapted from: Lesson #5: Discipline
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