My goals for 2019

Finally, it's time to discuss the start of 2019 and my plans for the rest of the year. By this time most people have already let go of their 'New Year plans', so it's absolutely no problem to talk about it a few weeks later. At the end it's all about creating habits to improve your life on the long term in my opinion. You don't create these habits by changing the calendar from 2018 to 2019, do something for a few weeks to eventually fall back into your old habits at the beginning of February.

I hear my stream followers thinking: 'Cool story, but you streamed quite a lot last year and since the new year you have been online a few times. Aren't you only doing less this year compared to last year?' Yes, I've streamed way less this year and this has multiple reasons. I think it's a good idea to explain why this is the case. I already talked briefly about this in my last blog, so definitely make sure to check that one out if you haven't done yet.

After coming back from my skitrip in January I spent some time thinking about my goals, like 90% of the population. I came to the conclusion that I liked streaming, otherwise I wouldn't have done it so serious since the summer, without getting any serious financial compensation. However, I noticed it started to really cost me a lot. I'm primarily talking about opportunity cost, namely I can't play 8 tables on stream for example, which I can when I play offstream. Besides that, streaming is distracting and will lower your winrate. Also, it costs energy which you could otherwise spent on other things you want to do.

All of these reasons are no rocket science. It shouldn't be a big surprise streaming costs a lot of energy and money if you're not sponsored (primarily opportunity cost/missed income). We're a month into the new year and I must say I've lived quite the grinder life. My volume and skill are increasing every week. Where I spent 300-400 euro in buy ins on a non-Sunday when I streamed, I'm now around 600 euro. Besides that I've had 3 Sundays where I lost almost 1K, which is only a sign of improvement as long as you keep playing your best game till the last hand. Also, I have been grinding Raise Your Edge harder than last year, hoping to become a crusher some day.

This doesn't mean I won't stream anymore though. However, it will be different than before. No schedule for the week that I'm announcing on Monday, but more randomly. Also, in the evenings it will be tough as I have a lot of tables till 11PM most of the time. Streaming randomly won't really grow the stream, but I will do it sometimes when I feel like it. At the moment this is the best option for me. Also, to be completely honest, if I would continue streaming consistently I doubt I will ever become a big streamer. I guess others are more made for this.

Do I regret streaming so serious for months? Not really, in the end you only regret the chances you didn't take. It probably took a bit of focus away of improving my game and putting in volume though. The upcoming months I have to catch up on this if I wanna reach my goals pokerwise. I sometimes satellite into some bigger tournaments like a 109$ or 215$, but my goal is to become a regular in games like these. When I put enough work into breaking down ranges in Equilab and make studying in Holdem Resources Calculator a daily activity I'm confident I can reach this.

Another goal of me is to improve myself socially. In my opinion it's important to develop skills in different aspects of life. I noticed I've already been quite social in 2018, except on meeting new girls. I think it's fair to say for a 21 year old my volume, to keep it in poker terms, has been super low last year. A month into the the new year I at least took some action already, and I'm planning on continuing to do so. The more awkward dates this year the better. Also, it's of course important to feel fit. Therefore I'm trying to sport when I can. I'm not gonna set extremely high goals though, as it's more about creating the habit to work out when you have the opportunity to do so. I don't really have the ambition to become a gymdude, the aim here is just to be active when possible.

As you might have noticed I primarily want to focus on creating the right habits first, before setting very specific goals without having the proper attitude or mindset. Therefore my mindset is the most important point to focus on in my opinion. I already improved a ton last months, but I still don't have the mindset I want. However, as a poker player you're forced to develop this skill and that has benefits on all aspects in life. I primarily see this when people complain all the time about things which are out of their control. I sometimes do this as well, but compared to non poker players I think I do quite decent. Still a long way to go, but I'm confident this year is gonna be great. It will all depend on taking the right decisions!

Cheers,

Maestro1908