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Some lessons from chess: - Importance of overconfidence. If you think you can't lose, very often that belief will itself cause you to lose, as you get careless. Your opponent, meanwhile, is in a "fighting for their life" mindset and will often play surprisingly well. Similarly, when you play a weaker opponent, it's hard not to play carelessly. - Working on your weaknesses. Anyone who gets really good in chess, has set out to find their weaknesses and fix them, one by one. - The better the player, the more time they spend considering their opponent's next moves, possibilities, resources, plans, compared to their own. - Accuracy of calculation. One slip during hours and it can all be for nothing. And also trusting yourself, not endlessly rechecking but calculating once (or twice!) and believing in your thought. Then when you do make a blunder, not dwelling on it but recovering quickly psychologically, starting afresh. - Learning from defeat. To get better you study your losses and where you went wrong, get to know the characteristic mistakes you make and why, and do something about it. |