Above and Beyond - Emotion Control and Productivity

Today I went to hang out with some of my CU friends, approximately group of about 20 people. We had a meeting, ate dinner at some bar, then went to bowling in 4 lines, seperated into 4 groups. I haven't done much of bowling in my life that I suck I mean I really suck. My score was like below 100 but we were kinda chilling and no one there was pro or anything. There was a little punishment for the team who finished the least score to buy like drink for everyone and etc. I bowled terribly on my team I mean like trash. My score was like 25 on 5th round where people were like 50 (Yea, they weren't good either). On the final round, there was an interesting situation where the total score were like 340 for us and the other worse team had like 352 and I was the last person to bowl. I felt so much of gravity on my shoulder with people cheering and giving so much attention to me. I felt overwhelmed but also felt some responsibility on our score. I decided to just completely detach myself from the score and focused. I hit 9 of the pins, and managed to spare then hit like 9 pins again to add 19 to score. Everyone goes crazy and wild congrats for the comeback but I wasn't exactly happiness from winning the competition it was because I was happy to just find some interesting aspect on myself.

I mean, I was there to hang out with my friends and chill but it was really interesting what I was capable of doing when I was fully concentrated and just play my game. It was surprising to see what I could do if I am fully concentrated versus when I am just chilling and doing something. I sometimes feel same way on my job where I just didn't feel like working. I then immediately sit out from my desk and come back later like smoking cigarette or etc, clear my mind, sit back again, then focus on what I do. Just little change on your mood is so important because I felt like its really important to perceive when you are over doing something or when you playing your best. I see a lot of my friends who is always out of time and live so busy. When I ask them why you were so busy during the day, they usually tell me a little thing that can be done in a lot shorter period of time. Taking short break seems waste of time if you are fully concentrated but people often do not realize exactly when they are there. Knowing yourself is pretty much my thoery today and if you will have this situation in your career where you feel more productivity in your life - just do not forget your mood. This applies same to when to stop playing poker too.

When I was playing poker, if I win really a lot in a short period of time, I keep playing until I make a single mistake on my play. I then sit back for a little, think about my mistake then coming back depends on how good your game is obviously. Today's situation simply reminded me how concentration affects your productivity far beyond than you prolly expect from yourself.