Learning Chess: Through Personal Development Training Pt 2

Knowing Who You Want To Be

By Mason Bolton III

Welcome back!

In our previous work, we constructed an inventory of your shortcomings as determined by how you feel about yourself. NOW, let us take a more expanded view of both you – AND of the person whom you want to be.

Phase 2 – Taking Inventory

OK. Listed very neatly on your inventory, is what lies between you and your goal of being a better chess player, (as based on an honest self appraisal).

The next step entails the development of two more lists.

The first list is a profile of what a solid chess player is - to you. What are their characteristics, strengths and – yes – their weaknesses – for even a master at chess has weaknesses. Sometimes, I wonder that the most distressing thing about being a top achiever – even a world leader with millions of loyal followers – is that at the bottom of it all – you are still human – and thereby still plagued by human weaknesses. But I digress.

Using the traits table from part 1 of this article – you will define your ideal chess player. That is - whom do you want to be when you grow up? Spell him out as completely as is possible and account for those things you admire about great chess players – and for those that you do not. If the table below does not completely meet your needs, add additional information as you require to complete your list.

This step really is the only way to obtain a comprehensive list of a chess player’s characteristics for you to take on. There is no one-size-fits-all chart that you can employ to nail down the "chess player personality". The fact is that there are 45 million chess players in the United States alone – and ALL of them have different personalities.

Therefore, we don’t try to chase EVERYTHING that a chess player can be. Let us instead go after those elements of a chess player’s character which YOU have noted that you would like to instill in your own chess play. Just as you have your idea of a dream girl (or guy) you also have your own idea of a dream chess player. You are not attempting to become a particular chess player. Somebody already owns that identity. You are attempting to become the chess player that you want to be. This exercise will help you to determine what that chess player looks like.

Once you have that table ready – you will build your second profile. This one correlates your strengths and weaknesses to that of your ideal chess player. Use your self-honesty appraisal to note (with a check mark) those things that you feel that you and a great chess player have in common. Then, note in a separate list, the areas from your self appraisal where you feel that you fell short (having no check mark).

When you are done, you will have one list – with items that you know need fixing (as taken from Table 1) – and with items that you feel need fixing (from your own self-honesty appraisal). Both are equally important.

With that – we are now armed with the material required to build our wish list for building ourselves into the monster chess player that we want to be. By now, some of you are getting REALLY depressed about the work that you are being put to. If this be you, then there are two things that you should remember.

1. When these lists are made – 90% of the work will be done.

…and

2. You are building a plan - the most important part of any endeavor. Once you have a credible plan of action – you can, at least, anticipate success. Nothing is ever guaranteed to succeed – but embarking on a task without a plan is a sure-fire way to guarantee failure. So take heart. This is good work you are doing.

OK. Time to go to work! Use the inventory checklist from part 1 to help guide you through building the two profiles. Build your self-honesty assessment first, followed by your chess player’s personality profile. Compile them into one list of flaws that you need to fix as described above. Then let’s meet back here to build a task list.