Do you find it relieving when you see that person with a shirt that says “How can I help?”. It’s usually the go-to point when you are in doubt or stuck, right?

I know that whenever I’m in doubt about something, that questions triggers me as “there’s my solution!”.

So, in this reflection I’m going to give you a good angle/perspective on how to overcome possible (or existing) obstacles in your poker career, such as:

- Being stuck. And;

- Having a hard time accepting feedback.

These are two traits/topics that for sure will make it much harder for you to achieve higher levels in poker (if you don’t overcome them), so let me bother you for a quick 2 minutes as you may benefit from this.

I, myself (talking always from personal experience), witnessed that to solve issues/obstacles in my life, it always came down to bringing in a new perspective, basically asking “How should I view the situation presented before me?”.

I’ll mention stoicism to support this opinion. Do a quick research on stoicism and you will find that it entails 3 main pillars: perspective, action and will.

Always starting off with perspective, due to the fact that “how” you view issues will influence your actions and will. We can all agree that we need clarity to solve problems right?

Also, a quick quote from Marcus Aurelius (June 30th in the “Daily Stoic”, by Ryan Holiday):

“… the mind adapts and converts any obstacle to its action into a means of achieving it. That which is an impediment to action is turned to advance action. The obstacle on the path becomes the way.”

I often mention these references to show that it’s not a product of my mind, you can rest at ease that my suggestions only come with proven history.

Now, that quote from Marcus Aurelius completely changed how I view problems (my perspective on it), I used to see problem as something to be avoided, and sometimes we should avoid, but that quote actually made me see that a problem can indeed be an opportunity for improvement.

The logic is very simple, if you’re having a problem, that problem could very well be a missing skill that you have (I’m always talking about our poker careers), therefore, view it as an opportunity for improvement, the obstacle itself is already showing you what you need to do.

Now, this is the moment where I tie my reasoning back to my initial question of “How can I help?”:

I found out that (for me), a great way to overcoming being stuck and being better at accepting feedback, which made me progress in my career, was to actually offer help, was to help other people in their path.

By doing this, I always gain new perspectives, I always get a fresh look into things, which in turn made me see things way more clear as to how I can improve myself.

I was seeing what people struggle with – anticipated some possible problems for myself;

I was researching how to help them – gaining a new skill that improves my game;

I saw their difficulty in accepting the issue in hand – made me understand how problematic it is to be stubborn.

Now that I think about it, was I helping them? Or was I helping myself? Try helping someone, you’ll see the benefits.

Whatever it is, here’s my question to you: How can I help?