Confidence

“I’m the banking-est man in 22 counties!”

–     Dick Heston (1933-2002), upon executing a one, two or three-cushion shot at the Snooker table

Dad was not prone to hyperbole or bragging.  As proven here, and by previous posts, he wasn’t an English major, either.  I am not sure “banking-est” is, technically, a real word.  So, he was not Hemingway or Thoreau, nor was he Muhammad Ali or Ocho Cinco.

He was, however, an exceptional Snooker player.

Snooker, for those of you who’ve not been exposed to it, is a complex billiard game played on a larger table with smaller pockets and smaller object balls which are shot at, shot in or not shot at or shot in in a very precise order.  (For more lessons on composing run-on sentences, please call for an appointment…)

If 8-ball is like playing your local muni golf course with your buddies for a $2 nassau, Snooker is like playing with Jack Nicklaus and Phil Mickelson for $1 million at Augusta National and Pine Valley — in the same day.  When we build a house, there will be a Snooker table in the basement.  Just sayin’.

Confidence.  That’s the point.  (Yes, there is one!)

If we’re trying something just knowing we’re gonna whiff, why try, unless it’s practice, and there are no stakes?  If we’re trying something and we just know we’re gonna nail it, why wait?  And if we’re trying something and we just know we’re gonna nail it, it means we’ve practiced and we’re ready.

So, why not practice and prepare to the point that we become the “banking-est” players at our “table” — and within the 22 surrounding counties?  Why not build the confidence to make a difference?