The Fourth Stage, Mastering Self

The Fourth Stage, Mastering SelfBy Tim “The Monk” MillerIn most of my workshops I hear the question asked, “What do I practice?” When I was locked in my basement for three years, I often wondered what it was I needed to do to become a great player. There were no books or Monks to show me the way. For me, it was a long process of elimination. I set a goal and then went through hell to reach that plateau. It took me three years of running balls, 10 to 15 hours each day, in order to bring my shot making to an acceptable level. If I had my very own Monk, he would have said to me, “You must work on all four stages of pocket billiards. Every pool player must pass through each of these stages in order to become the master of this great game.” You must master shot making. You must master the four strokes of pool. You must master cue ball speed, and you must master self. There are no shortcuts. There is no other way. Miss out on any one of these stages, and your game will not be strong. You must pass through the four stages of pool. Strengthen your game by practicing each stage.
I stopped by Clicks poolroom in Dallas to practice and decided to work on the fourth stage, “Mastery of Self.” When I work on this stage, I often try to run a hundred balls. I was in control of myself that day, so I completed my run without any real problem. I really helped myself in the self mastery part of this journey. I returned the next day to continue my work on the fourth stage, and once again I ran one hundred balls. I stopped for a moment and called one of my students in Denver who was working on this stage as well. She was happy for me. I reported that the shots were shooting themselves. It was as if the cue had a mind of its own. This is “self mastery.” You are free from interference. She told me she was having problems running a hundred balls. After a long conversation I asked her to work on the 2-7-2 program and the five shots. She needed to master cue ball speed. She needed to go back to the third stage in order to lay a foundation for the fourth stage. on the third day, I decided to continue my work on self mastery. Dallas was undergoing an ice storm dubbed “the storm of the century.” I needed to be in West Texas the next day, so this was a concern. As a result of my concern, I did not have self mastery. I could not run one hundred balls. In fact, I could not even run one rack. So I decided to spend the rest of the day practicing the four strokes of pool. I worked on each stroke for about an hour. I could have wasted the entire day working on the fourth stage. I did not have self mastery that day, so it would have been a waste of time. Years ago, before I became The Monk, I would have struggled through the day practicing things that were not good for me. Now, I know I must work on the things that lead me to success. The answer to what to practice is to work on what you are capable of doing. This way, you strengthen it. My student in Boston is working on cue ball speed. We spend many hours with the speed patterns found in The Lesson. What you focus on is what you strengthen. The next time you go to your local pool hall, be sure to focus on a specific skill you want to improve. Work on it until you are satisfied with the results and then move on. Mastery of self is a complicated stage. The stroke, minus the interference, equals the shot. A master is not plagued by inner thoughts that divert him from his task. He can focus for a prescribed time on the task at hand. He is not in the future, nor is he in the past. The score is no factor. He simply shoots the right shot and allows the results to be what they are. He/she has an indifference towards winning or losing. The master simply goes about his job. First he decides on the stroke, then the speed, then he focuses on the spot on the cue ball, and finally the master sees the spot on the object ball. on each and every shot, the master goes through this sequence. There are no hard shots in pool. There are no easy shots in pool. A shot is simply a shot. The master is free to perform, and the performance can only be directed towards the shot at hand. A master gives one hundred percent effort to each and every shot. The shot is all that matters to the one who has passed through the fourth stage. Welcome to the land of dead stroke. Welcome to the zone where the shots shoot themselves. Visit InsidePOOL for the latest techniques from the top instructors in billiards and pool.

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