Next up in the feedback loop is monitor. ‘’You cannot manage what you don’t measure” How do we really know if we are making improvements? We monitor our habits, our focus spots, and track our data! Numbers & hips don’t lie! -Shakira
Did we do what we set out to do? Did we have a proper warmup? Did we play the desired hours/hands? Did we take the time to evaluate after our session? These are habits/actions we can monitor.
How are we doing in a specific situation we are focusing on? After playing, we want to zoom in on a specific spot we have been working on, for this example, our BB check-raising game. We replay the spots to see if we indeed took the opportunities that we had with a specific type of holding we tend to miss. If we did, then great, successful session! If not, what can we learn about the spot we might have missed or overplayed? And how can we add this new information about ourselves in the feedback loop in order to improve?
And last but not least, tracking your stats. When it comes down to specific stats it is usually useless to track after one session (only hands played seems relevant) as there is a big variance in the number given the number of hands you play in one session. However, on a weekly or monthly basis, depending on the stats, we can for example track our BB XR%. Let's say it was 8%, and we concluded out of earlier evaluation bringing that up to 12% would result in a higher win rate, then setting a goal of 12% and monitoring if we indeed made it to 12% is a good way to take control over our level of improvement.
We tend to fool ourselves if we don’t monitor. We can be very biased, thinking we are or aren't doing something that in reality is far from what is going on. Don’t be the guy that when asked how a spot is going responds with “I think/feel like it’s going okay, I'm taking the spots” but be the guy that shows the actual proof!
What habits and/or data should you be monitoring to strive towards continues improvement?