Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration • Hacker News Board

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#61

Post by Dumblydorr » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:12 PM UTC

swiley wrote: post #59

pmoriarty wrote: post #2

Once one has learned how to concentrate, the next thing to learn is to be able to concentrate on the right thing. Chess taught me to concentrate, but I've always had trouble concentrating on what I should be concentrating on, and instead wasted too much time concentrating on chess and other diversions. The real trick is being able to focus on something even when it gets frustrating, painful, or boring, and being able…

>The real trick is being able to focus on something even when it gets frustrating, painful, or boring, and being able to do this for extended periods of time. Then the world is your oyster. Any advice on learning this? Is it just the usual "do things that are difficult and meaningful?" Or is there a shortcut?

The key is recognizing that pain, boredom, frustration, and any negative emotion, are merely temporary, ephemeral states of the mind and body. You do not need to change what you do with your attention merely because a whim of boredom came up. Meditation practice helps you learn this, how to let go of whatever's taking over the mind. With your mind freed, you may then reapply it to the task at hand.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#62

Post by k__ » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:16 PM UTC

Games can you teach many things.

Running a guild in World of Warcraft can teach you more about management than most MBA courses.

Building Magic the Gathering decks can teach you how to find good tactics that aren't obvious at first.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#63

Post by Dumblydorr » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:16 PM UTC

adenozine wrote: post #39

So, as someone with ADHD-C, and someone who's been playing a lot of chess recently in the wake of its resurgence online, can I expect some important insight or self-realization from practicing the art of concentrating? I can concentrate for hours and hours on certain things, I just don't always get to choose the things. Will chess and its nature of honing concentration force me to enhance that? I listened to this art…

It's actually hard to practice concentrating with a game or active activity. If you truly want to meet your mind, sit down and do nothing, i.e. meditate. You'll notice your mind racing, and you'll see just why it's hard to concentrate on anything. You can then practice letting go of intervening thoughts, without self hate, and just observe the breath, sounds around, but in a passive, calm manner, not reactionary or impulsive with the attention.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#64

Post by ngcc_hk » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:18 PM UTC

I thought the whole game play is to distract you so to relax your mind so it can rest. It may run all those non-game serious thing in the background. Like sleeping.

Unless you want to be pro. Most of us are not.

I played GO. Still remember must have hot tea as the blood go all to the brain the whole body feel very cold even in hot summer.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#65

Post by KineticLensman » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:19 PM UTC

_urga wrote: post #10

segmondy wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how you do concentrate on things that are not chess and games which you find boring?

I think this comes down to realizing that everything in life is eventually hard. Provided you're doing something worthwhile [1], when the going gets hard, don't look for easier pastures. They're all difficult. Just keep plowing away. And don't doubt. Where there is no doubt, the wind is your companion. [1] Ecclesiastes is a pretty great book to help figure out for yourself what exactly this is. It's not for nothing t…

(disclosure: I am not religious). Yes. Ecclesiastes has some great and often quoted lines: “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…” “…There is nothing new under the sun”. It’s not a typical old testament book, which I think is why I finished it.

(going really off topic here)

I was inspired to look at the Biblical version after reading the awesome “A Rose for Ecclesiastes” by Roger Zelazny, in which a poet on a mission to Mars uses it as a basis for communicating with the ancient Martian elders. Incidentally, a copy of Zelazny’s 1969 story was landed on Mars in 2008 on a DVD carried by the Phoenix probe [0]. If 'The Martian' was the perfect story of engineering on Mars, 'A Rose for Ecclesiastes' is perhaps the perfect poetic look at the planet, at least on a par with "The Silver Locusts".

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(spacecraft)#Phoenix_D...

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#66

Post by slothtrop » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:36 PM UTC

pmoriarty wrote: post #2

Once one has learned how to concentrate, the next thing to learn is to be able to concentrate on the right thing. Chess taught me to concentrate, but I've always had trouble concentrating on what I should be concentrating on, and instead wasted too much time concentrating on chess and other diversions. The real trick is being able to focus on something even when it gets frustrating, painful, or boring, and being able…

I think the point is that diversions don't really require much concentration, they're easy to consume. If they did require a lot of concentration they wouldn't (usually) be diversions.

Depending on the goals you've laid out in front of you for the day, Chess is either a diversion or the "right thing". The "right thing" is up to you. Considering the investment Chess requires I don't think it's typically what is pulling people away from tasks they should be doing.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#67

Post by slothtrop » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:40 PM UTC

nemo44x wrote: post #58

dmos62 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd interpret Bukowski's famous "don't try" not as "don't do what you don't want to", but rather as "don't foster conflicts". To try is to do something when you half-believe that you can do it and half-believe that you can't. It's half-commitment. Bukowski is instructing, I believe (wink wink), to drop all that believing and just do things, without mental baggage.

I think it’s about not forcing things. Don’t set a time for when a creative output should be done. Wait for it and let it come to you. “Trying” won’t lead to genius creations; just letting it come to you from spontaneous inspiration and patience.

What I frequently hear from writers is you don't get to decide when inspiration will hit you. To be equipped to deal with it you have to write all the time, mental block or not. It just gets easier the more you do it.

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#68

Post by slothtrop » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:41 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #24

I got out of chess before it consumed my life and I never regretted it. It's a game, not something to spend your life on. Doing anything well is a lesson in concentration, so from that point of view you could replace 'Playing chess' with a very large variety of other skills and it would all send the exact same message.

What did you replace it with?

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#69

Post by slothtrop » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:43 PM UTC

username90 wrote: post #43

Why concentrate on playing chess when you can concentrate on solving math problems? They are deeper, more fun and also related to the real world. I never liked chess but thinking about random math problems kept me up at night. If you think math problems aren't interesting then you just aren't trying to solve hard enough math problems, there is no end to them.

What's a good source to get started?

Re: Playing chess is a life lesson in concentration

#70

Post by adenozine » Fri, Dec 18, 2020, 2:50 PM UTC

Dumblydorr wrote: post #63

adenozine wrote: post #39

So, as someone with ADHD-C, and someone who's been playing a lot of chess recently in the wake of its resurgence online, can I expect some important insight or self-realization from practicing the art of concentrating? I can concentrate for hours and hours on certain things, I just don't always get to choose the things. Will chess and its nature of honing concentration force me to enhance that? I listened to this art…

It's actually hard to practice concentrating with a game or active activity. If you truly want to meet your mind, sit down and do nothing, i.e. meditate. You'll notice your mind racing, and you'll see just why it's hard to concentrate on anything. You can then practice letting go of intervening thoughts, without self hate, and just observe the breath, sounds around, but in a passive, calm manner, not reactionary or i…

I've heard this advice many times over the years, and I guess I've really just never committed myself to meditation as a regimen. I can keep a fitness routine very well, I think that's as close I get with my brain to that place of reflection.

Did you have any like, significant trauma to deal with when you started meditating? I have some things in my past that I feel the need to run from when I am still and quiet in my mind.