The Psychological Edge

[shapenaji]

You can be the happiest or the saddest person in the world, but the goban and the stones won't share your feelings. In other words, I think maintaining positive morality is neither essential nor the reason why players crack and fall behind from a winning position (the answer to the latter is usually carelessness). Instead of maintaining positive morality, I think it's more important to maintain a high level of concentration. Put more faith in your reading, not in your emotions/mental state.

...Oh, I hate myself for doing this...(chalk it up to OCD of some form or other) "positive morale"

But I think morale can have a huge effect. A high level of concentration is extremely important, but I don't think human beings can completely separate their feelings about a position from their analysis by simply concentrating.

I think good morale makes concentration easier, and likewise, bad morale will limit your ability to concentrate. Your reading will be better/deeper if you're feeling better. Many tomes on military strategy have huge sections devoted to morale (see Sun Tzu).

As long as you're a member of the human race, your excitement, or lack of, will affect the way you play. If you learn to control it, you can indirectly improve your concentration.

EDIT: To paraphrase Sun Tzu,

Concentration is a matter of emptiness and fullness. A full concentration vs. an empty one is like rocks thrown at eggs

[daal]

Hmm. It doesn't seem possible to "rate this thread," but if it was, I'd certainly give it a couple of stars.

I love the fact that there are so many good answers, ranging from the very practical to the metaphysical. I personally think Magicwand's suggestion has immense practical value regarding the question Kirby posed, because moments where we realize that we've made a mistake are often what can lead to the emotional breakdown. I was also caught up with MountainGo's comment, which although I thought was bonk when I first read it, was the first thing I was thinking about when I woke up this morning, because it pointed in the direction of the larger perspective. What do we want from go? The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat? To improve our minds? To prove something to ourselves? To have fun? We've all heard of and can empathize with Kirby's quest for the 3rd "d" mention. When I logged into KGS this morning, I saw that my rank had finally crossed over to 6k, and immediately logged out instead of playing as I had planned. Man, these emotional hurdles are all over the place, and some detachment might make for a smoother run...but on the other hand ambition is also a motor.

I guess I just want to add that because the problem is by nature circular, all inputs of positive energy will help to keep the wheel rolling, and finding value in your failures might do that as well.

As Kageyama points out quoting Fukuzawa "Confidence is born of strength, and strength of confidence." Of professional go players he also writes: "His mental, physical and emotional strength all have to be fully developed." With most of us rank amateurs, this is not the case. We have plenty of deficits, and one or the other will be responsible for our losses, will cause us to "crack and fall behind." Or not. Sometimes it happens to the other guy. About half the time. Luck? Karma? While a go game may be long, it's just a moment in your go career.

As Thomas Edison once said: "Results! Why man, I have gotten a lot of results. I know several thousand things that won't work."

[daniel_the_smith]

I can't remember where I saw this originally (it may have even been a link from godiscussions), but this seems like an appropriate read for the topic.

Edit: mild language warning. Lots of magic the gathering references which go completely over my head, hehe.