We’ve seen players do this. We’ve even been guilty of it ourselves. You know what I’m talking about. It’s the build-in excuse. We show up to practice, league, or a tournament and before it even begins we say, “My back hurts tonight,” or “I have a headache.” It usually starts with “I probably won’t play well tonight because…” That way, when we don’t succeed, we’ve already validated our failure.

Merriam-Webster defines “excuse” as: something offered as justification. We create excuses in an attempt to justify and defend our actions. The built-in excuse is the one that we show up with so we don’t feel so bad when we lose. It’s different from the one we make up after a loss in attempt to determine what went wrong.

Here’s a list of some built-in excuses:

• My girlfriend/boyfriend just broke up with me.
• I have to get up early in the morning.
• They’re out of my favorite beer.
• I need a new tip.
• My ankles itch from the poison ivy I stepped in.
• The music is too loud in here.
• I’m tired from a long day at work.
• I’m expecting a phone call.
• I forgot my glasses.
• I forgot my cues.

Now that we’re aware of the built-in excuse, how do we avoid it?

Most excuses are quite legitimate. If you worked a long, hard day and your back hurts, it will probably affect your performance. If you know you’re not feeling well and won’t play well, don’t sign up for the tournament if you don’t have to.

There’s no way to completely disregard the other things going on in our lives. Life is unavoidable. Playing pool is rarely at the top of the priority food chain. Therefore, excuses are a dime a dozen. The secret is to not feed them any further energy.

If you catch yourself making an excuse, do something about it. Take action. Call the person you were waiting to hear from. Borrow your teammate’s cue. Ask to play your match early so you can get out of there. Take some aspirin for your headache. Control the situation. Address the excuses before they affect your play.

Get back to basics. Replace the excuses with productive thoughts. Instead of focusing on the excuse at hand, focus on the contact point. Focus on staying down. Focus on following through all the way with your stroke. Choose a specific mechanical area to concentrate on in place of the excuse. You’ll be amazed at how quickly your brain can be distracted from the original distraction.

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