The Big Secret This secret is all about doubt. There is doubt when you're not sure you're choosing the correct shot; or whether you can execute it successfully  under the present circumstances; or even if your stance doesn't feel quite  right. In these kinds of situations, the brain is sending mixed messages  to the muscles and the mind is focusing more on the outcome than on  the process. Your loss of clear focus results in failure.      When you are in synch with yourself; feeling good and confident, you  naturally trust what you see in your mind. You trust yourself to produce it. When it's flowing like that you are in dead stroke and playing without  interference. Your mind is focused on one single image at a time and  you actively trust that image and your body's ability to produce it. You  see the shot in you mind and get down without doubt or hesitation. You  do exactly what is necessary to prepare for the shot and you execute it  just like you saw it. Your clear focus results in success. The best way to capitalize on the big secret of pool is to keep your  attention on one thing at a time and make sure that that thing is the one  most important thing at that particular moment. When you have doubt  about the shot you're about to take, for instance, the single most  important thing you can do is to remove that doubt and have a fully  committed plan of action before you get down on the shot. Good Luck & Good Shootin’! There are many secrets in pool and playing at a high level is dependent  on discovering and learning how to use the knowledge contained in  those secrets. There are small ones and large ones; ones that are easy to  uncover and others that are more deeply hidden. The number one secret  in advanced pool, however, is both obvious and elusive. An  accomplished player will recognize it when stated and even a less  skillful player or beginner can see the truth in it.  At a certain point of development, a player's body, especially the brain  and nervous system, knows exactly how to produce any shot requested  of it. Different shots have an inherent error margin, of course, but the  human nervous system knows this and can and will respond with the  necessary information if it is given the opportunity. Remember the movie where Kevin Costner played the role of a farmer  who built the old-time baseball field in his cornfield? He kept hearing a  voice that said "If you build it, they will come." Finally, he went against  all logic, built the field and everyone came, including the long dead  Shoeless Joe Jackson.  In pool, the statement is just a little different. It goes like this:"If you  see it, you will get it." What this means is that if you could slow your  mind down, you would see that what you visualized at the moment of  execution is exactly what you produced. Some times it looks like the  outcome came as a surprise, as if what you produced was completely  different than what you ordered. But if you look closer you'll see that  you weren't really focused at the moment of execution. You thought  you were, but you weren't. At some level, you saw the image of what  actually happened before it did. You presented your nervous system  with conflicting images and it produced the one that had the most  emotional energy.  Perhaps this may sound esoteric or even airy-fairy, but let's take another look at it. How many times have you said "I knew that was going to  happen!" right after you scratched in the side? How many times have  you sat in the chair knowing that the mistake you just made was one  that you knew you were going to make, but couldn't stop yourself from  doing so?  This big secret of pool is not based on magical thinking. It is totally  defined and restricted by the reality of how well you have trained your  body to execute. Simply visualizing a shot that you have not trained  your body to execute is not going to make it happen, regardless of how  clearly you "see" it. You have to have the data in the computer,  speaking metaphorically, before you can miraculously summon it with  a single key stroke.