Why You Procrastinate On Becoming a Better Gambler

Many gamblers have dreams of improving their skills and eventually earning big profits. However, most of these same people never take the first step to becoming great.

You may be among this crowd that holds aspirations of one day making money through gambling, but has yet to get started.

Of course, like with anything else, excelling at gambling takes time and perseverance. You might have the dedication deep down inside to do what it takes to earn profits.

But you may also suffer from the same problem as many others in this regard—you just can’t get started. Much of this problem comes down to procrastination.

I’m going to discuss why you and others procrastinate on learning gambling skills and how you can overcome this barrier.

Becoming a Skilled Gambler Isn’t as Hard as It Seems

Becoming a winning gambler isn’t exactly easy. Only a small percentage of people who take up this pursuit eventually become professionals.

On the other hand, developing strong skills at one or more games isn’t as tough as the movies make it seem. For example, you don’t have to be a mathematical genius to master card counting.

Instead, you simply need the discipline to gradually improve your skills along the way. You must also possess the fortitude to look past previous losses and figure out how you can win.

Take somebody who’s a professional sports bettor, for instance. They don’t necessarily have access to secret information or teams’ locker rooms.

They simply spent enough time learning handicapping, the respective sport(s) they dominate, and the betting industry in general. Pro bettors also possess the discipline and bankroll management skills to avoid taking unnecessary risks.

Similarly, a professional online poker player isn’t born with an acute ability to make the best play. They learned their skills through studying the game and reviewing previous mistakes.

Here’s a sample plan for how one can eventually become an online poker pro:

• Study strategy 1-2 hours a day.
• Play online poker 3-4 hours per day, 5-6 days per week.
• Review sessions whenever possible.

The above schedule isn’t light—especially if you already have a full-time job. However, you could gradually work up to this schedule and add more strategies/playing hours as your profits increase. Eventually, you can quit your current job and become a professional.

Again, I’m not saying that transforming from an amateur into a pro gambler is easy. But becoming a winner isn’t about acquiring some long-lost secret either.

Why You Fail at Getting Better

You need time to master a casino game, sports betting, poker, or any other beatable form of gambling. Of course, finding this time can be difficult.

You may tell yourself before the day begins that you’ll immediately start studying card counting strategies when you get off work. But when you get home, you may change your tune and want to rest for an hour or two.

This 1-2 hours often turns into 5-6 hours. By the end of the night, you may only have another hour of free time before bed.

It’s common to tell yourself the following at this point: “I’ll get to it tomorrow.”

Tomorrow may roll around and you’ll tell yourself the same thing. Eventually, you target the weekend as the perfect point when you’re ready to begin.

You may indeed start improving your sports betting skills on the weekend. But when Monday rolls around, you get sidetracked and tell yourself that one bad day is fine.

If you continue this pattern, where you study consistently only to fail on other days, your improvement will be slow. Eventually, you might just put off the whole matter until you have additional free time.

Procrastination bleeds throughout this entire scenario. Some days you’re able to get started right on time and work towards your goals.

Other days, you might get completely distracted by social media and news websites. In the back of your mind, you could believe that you’ll get started any minute. Once you go off the right path, though, this minute may never come.

Procrastination – The Thief of Time

Edward Young, a famed English poet and philosopher, famously said, “Procrastination is the thief of time.”

You may catch yourself engaging in pointless activities for the pure sake of procrastinating. The latter involves putting off or delaying tasks until the last minute.

Sometimes, your procrastination problem becomes so bad that you miss a deadline. At this point, you might need to beg for more time on whatever task you were supposed to complete.

Of course, you might try combating this problem by upping your commitment level and being better organized. The latter could include mapping out a detailed schedule for how you’ll accomplish something.

You may even find yourself suddenly doing everything you’re supposed to for a few consecutive days. Eventually, though, you go off track again after procrastinating for a single day and never get back to where you were.

The problem with procrastination is that it does indeed steal your time. You only have so much time to accomplish your goals in life.

Assuming you want to become a better gambler, for instance, you must make the time commitment towards doing so. But if you waste too much time in preparation of your goal, you may quit before ever getting started.

How Does a Procrastinator Typically Behave?

Procrastinators are quite optimistic about their chances of completing a task on time. They don’t feel the urge to start under the false assumption that they’re completely in control.

For example, one may want to become a professional poker player. Given that nobody places a deadline on them to do so, they feel like they have all the time in the world to get started.

It’s difficult to begin a research paper, for example, when one has a month to do so. It’s even tougher to start when nobody has placed expectations upon the procrastinator.

They may take weeks or even months before officially starting on their gambling plan. Even when they do begin, they’ll eventually run into various events that sidetrack them.

Here are possible occurrences that consume more and more of a person’s time:

• A hopeful pro gambler delays saving a large enough bankroll to play the stakes they want.
• They meet a new significant other and begin spending more time with them.
• They start a new job that requires more hours.
• The wannabe professional gets engaged to their significant other and begins planning a wedding.

When this person original set a goal, they had a schedule that afforded them more time. However, they’ve now had new events pop up in their life that demand more attention.

The procrastinator never plans for the likelihood that their life could change in the future. Assuming they get married and have kids, they’ll enjoy even less time to dedicate towards becoming a poker pro.

I’m not saying that one should put off life and avoid situations that could possibly improve their well-being. Dating, having kids, working out, and finding a better job can all be beneficial.

But those who procrastinate on something that they really want to do aren’t accounting for future changes. They’ll always be waiting to start towards a dream gambling career.

What Can You Do to Overcome Procrastination and Improve as a Gambler?

Procrastination is a common problem, because it’s difficult to avoid. Making a change is hard and so is perfectly executing a plan.

Many people never get past the fact that their plan will never be perfect. Unrealistic expectations leave one feeling like they must do everything right, or delay starting until they can do so.

Another potential problem involves the energy needed to carry out a task. Some procrastinators look at the time needed to complete their goal and are intimidated.

The best way to overcome these obstacles is by recognizing them and going from there. You can look past the time/energy and perfectionism problems with the following tips:

• Avoid placing expectations on yourself in the beginning.
• Realize that no plan is perfect and there’ll be bumps in the road.
• Do your best to spread the work out over time.
• Create a realistic, yet challenging goal, that you can actually execute.

You should also avoid being too overconfident about reaching your goal. Again, procrastinators are often fully confident that they can hit their target even when starting extremely late.

Professional gamblers aren’t a dime a dozen. You want to fully understand that beating the casino or fellow gamblers consistently takes work and dedication. Therefore, you shouldn’t wait forever to get started on this dream.

You also need to account for the reverse in that you might not be confident enough. Perhaps you don’t truly believe you can handle the success that comes with winning big in gambling. If so, you should get to the root of your problem on handling success.

Conclusion

Procrastination affects many areas of life, including gambling improvement. Some people struggle with this problem more than others.

Assuming you often procrastinate, you might find it tough to get started on the road to gambling success. You may be overconfident or not confident enough and delay working towards your dreams.

Life changes can eventually consume more of your time and make it impossible to reach your goal. Therefore, you should begin diagnosing your procrastination problem before anything. Once you solve this, you can get started on the path to success in gambling or any other pursuit.