Confidence is Worth Two Stones

Credit to treeofknowledge

Last week, I was playing a game when other players started showing up to watch the game. My opponent then remarked, “Everyone is here to see me lose.” And then I promptly replied, “You’ve got it wrong. They’re here to see me lose.” Though it was said in a joking manner that was also supposed to be humble, it wasn’t until after the game that a comment made by a visitng dan player struck me: “Confidence is worth two stones.”

It got me thinking about my whole approach to the game, or perhaps life in general. With the way I’ve been brought up, it’s expected that one be humble and not be cocky or overconfident. However, I started to wonder whether or not I ended up taking this mentality too far and becoming self-deprecating instead. In other words, even though I would say things like, “No no, I’m a weak player” as a way of being humble; I may have actually been planting seeds of doubt in myself this entire time.

Now to be clear, I’m not saying that one should prance around saying how they’ll win every game and rub it in their opponent’s faces. “Look at me! I’m so great!” I mean sure, sometimes the cockiness works as a placebo effect and some people end up becoming “stronger,” but then everyone thinks you’re an asshole and that is way worse than being a weak player. So instead, I will stop using negative statements and stop worrying about what other people think.

With each stone I play, I will simply aim to play the best go that I can. That is all that matters.