DISCIPLINE (Part 1)
Of all the above Keys to Winning, this one sounds the simplest, but is the hardest of all. We all understand the value of discipline, especially when it comes to our money. This is accentuated when we talk about the casino environment. Everything in the casino is designed to separate us from any sense of reality. The casinos are a wondrous land where everything seems possible, as long as you still have money. Money is the lifeblood of all of this excitement. Without it, you are nothing more than dead wood, and you will be flushed out in a hurry. Having discipline as part of your winning objectives saves you from the inglorious fate of being washed clean, hung out to dry, and tossed away as yet another of the ill-prepared and unwary.
Having discipline as part of your tricks of the trade when you go gambling simply means that you make a commitment to play wisely, with reason, with goals in mind, and with all of the empowering information and Keys to Winning that I have shared here. If you want to have your mad time, that’s okay too. Budget for it, realize it, recognize it, make it part of your overall game plan. Even that will then become part of your discipline. Just don’t let the thrill of this overwhelm you or allow it to completely drown all your plans and your discipline along with it.
Unfortunately, making a commitment to self-discipline when going to the casino is very easy. Keeping to it once you get to the casino is very hard. So hard, in fact, that the vast majority of people who arrive at the casino completely convinced they will not allow this experience to get the better of them do just that. They let it get the better of them. And fast. You’d be surprised. Very often as soon as they walk through the door. Suddenly, they see all the excitement, all the games, all the flashing lights, the sounds of money and chips—the entire atmosphere captivates them. In the door they go, and out the door go all of their well-meaning and carefully conceived plans, their sense of discipline, and all their other senses as well. It happens to just about everyone, even hardened veterans of the casino lifestyle. All of us are human beings, and we are not perfect. We have failures, and lack of discipline is the worst. We see it everywhere around us. Schools no longer teach discipline. Rowdy and disruptive students are no longer punished. They are “counseled” instead. Same with children. The outcome is that we are producing a society where none of the adults have any idea of what discipline is. When they are faced with it, as when they enter the workforce, or the armed services, they are in complete shock. No wonder, then, that most people who go to casinos can’t understand what discipline really is, and how it applies to their gaming success or financial failure.
To be continued…
