Anytime I choose to post something on R.I.O, it's because of what's on my mind at the current time and I feel that if I choose to write it out, it's a load off my shoulders. I don't mind sharing things with others either. What I wanted to talk about is self control. 

As you most likely already know, self control is important not only in poker, but in life as well. When it comes to poker, self control can be not calling that river bet from the villain when you actually want to, but don't because in the end you know you're beat. It can be not playing tons of hands and patiently wait until you can capitalize on the right moment, even though waiting can be painfully boring. It also can be not calling out a player for playing a hand fundamentally wrong when that player sucks out on you, even though you could easily be-little him or her with you're obtained poker logic. 

I find self control interesting. With me, the funny thing is that I usually only use self control when it comes to playing poker. Life outside of poker, I lack self control. Besides goals just for poker, I have other goals that I'm trying to achieve, but slipping due to lack of self control. I'm trying to lose weight, workout more and eat healthier, but due to my laziness and fast food cravings, I'm at a stand-still so to speak. Usually the night before the next day, I tell myself that I'm going to make it through the day leading a healthier lifestyle, but to my surprise, I end up messing up by either not choosing to workout or not choosing to eat healthy and then the self-talk happens again later on that night. 

What I'm thinking is this: Self control is muscle. If you practice working out that "muscle", it's going to become stronger. It doesn't have to be an all day workout, but you should fit an exercise into your schedule if you wanna get into shape. With me, I make mistakes day in and day out with self control, but there are times throughout the day I practice it with certain things and I do feel better afterward, just like with a workout.  

All and all, self control goes hand and hand with poker just like it does with life. That's what I love about poker. It does teach you life lessons and currently I'm doing my homework.