How do you personally get out of a rut?

[leonprimrose]

OIC. Like "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"? Well, that's not true of go, either.

yeah and lol oh xD well nevermind then xD How about this then: "I will crush my enemies with the strength of my mighty walls!" -leonprimrose 2015

[DrStraw]

I am not being facetious when I say the easiest way to get out of a rut is to never get into it. What I mean is that you cannot be in a rut if you don't dwell too much on the results, because they are just not that important to you.

By all means try to improve, but dwell more on the good points of each game rather than the bad ones. We are all amateurs and so we are all going to make mistakes. But concentrating on the good points of each game and learning from them will result in long term improvement, even if you are occasionally in a rut along the way.

[Bill Spight]

OIC. Like "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link"? Well, that's not true of go, either.

yeah and lol oh xD well nevermind then xD How about this then: "I will crush my enemies with the strength of my mighty walls!" -leonprimrose 2015

Don't play anyone named Joshua.

[Anzu]

When Go begins to become stressful, I just switch to chess.

When chess begins to become stressful, I switch to Go.

Take a break, maybe?

[sybob]

I can relate to you Leon.

I don't have a remedy, only a way to cope.
Somewhere during midgame, I (try to) take a break, so to speak.
Most often, time is not an issue. I (try to) take my time to sit back and look over the whole board again.
I think it has to do with not being able to being focused 100% during the whole of the game. So, take a break in between. Reload during the game.
Hope it helps.

[leonprimrose]

I can relate to you Leon.

I don't have a remedy, only a way to cope.
Somewhere during midgame, I (try to) take a break, so to speak.
Most often, time is not an issue. I (try to) take my time to sit back and look over the whole board again.
I think it has to do with not being able to being focused 100% during the whole of the game. So, take a break in between. Reload during the game.
Hope it helps.

That's good advice. I'll definitely try it out

[wineandgolover]

A nice break can definitely make you stronger. I vote thusly.

[Knotwilg]

First of all, I like the advice by Bill a lot.

Then, the OP asked "how do you personally get out of a rut". So instead of giving advice, I'll answer the question.

When I'm feeling down about my results (in Go or in whatever competitive skill) I'll first inspect the data. Am I really in a rut or is it more a matter of perception?

A few weeks ago I had a couple of bad results in table tennis (the sport I've been into since a few years). It turned out that one of the players who beat me despite being ranked much lower, has a positive record against even players that are ranked higher than me. So I could remove that "bad result" from the list. Inspecting the rest of them, at most one loss seemed to be uncalled for, and those things just happen.

Regardless of that piece of insight, I just kept training, because I love the sport that much. Bad results are not a reason for me to take a break. The only time I took a break was when I was going through a rough period, many things were going wrong at the same time, and even table tennis didn't give me pleasure. I had to go back to life's fundamentals and only after a major repair I could come back to the game. But that's a different story.

I have the impression that many players "going through a rut" are really facing the problem that their game is not living up to their self image. It's not clear where the love goes: to go or to the ego (and I've been there!). Never mind the results, if you love the game, there's plenty of things to enjoy: tsumego, reading books, playing free games, self reviews ...

But again, regarding your specific issue, I revert to Bill's great advice.

[daal]

When I've gotten into a rut, I've found that what helps me most personally is to remind myself that despite it not being enough to win my, I did what I could. There are reasons that I play at a 5k level and not at 5d, and a 5k doesn't know certain things that can cause him to lose a game, he often uses inappropriate strategies, when he has a good strategy, he might execute it poorly, He sometimes misreads, commits blunders, dies when he shouldn't etc. Any of these can cause him to lose a game. It is to be expected, and is perfectly normal. Then I remind myself that these very weaknesses can also cause my opponent to lose, and that the next game would be a good time for that to happen.

[mhlepore]

My suggestions:

- Try changing your style up. For example, sometimes I get too attached to trying to make moyos, and changing to a more territorial style can solve the problem.

- Watch some strong games online - especially those that are well kibitzed. Seeing strong players play may make you realize your bad habits.

- Play slower.

- Walk away for a while, as Kirby suggests.

[Anzu]

You might also try burning incense or scented candles to help you relax during the games. Or perhaps brew tea before a game, that helps, too.

[Fedya]

Incense gives me a nasty headache.

[SaiLens]

Assuming you're playing even games (P(win)=.5), losing streaks of up to 6 games are to be expected from time to time. If you lose more than that, that's when you're probably in a rut. Mistakes that cost you games are probably one or more of the following:
1) life/death misread - the only way to remedy that is to practice regularly
2) saving a group at all costs when abandoning it would be more sensible (stingy)
3) trying to kill an opponent's group at all cost (greedy)
4) invading too deeply instead of reducing (greedy)
5) reacting to all of your opponent's moves instead of evaluating on your own whether they're sente (submissive, not trusting your reading)
6) ignoring your opponent's sente (stubborn or misreading)

Any form of single-mindedness, really, because you lose sight of the big picture.

It's not easy to fight the feeling that you're giving too much to your opponent "if I don't cut here", "if I don't invade there right now!" or "if I don't save my / kill his group"... but I think you can refocus by counting. It gives your agitated, perhaps restless mind something useful to do, if you make it a habit you will get tremendously faster and better at it... and it enables you to choose more sensible strategies. "Am I still okay if I abandon this heavy group and take points over there?" "I am ahead by about 10 points, seems I don't have to start a do-or-die invasion anywhere..."

If you don't know where to play, and have a lot of time on your hands, you can also replay the game rotated by 180 degrees to get a "different perspective".