When’s the last time you found yourself in deep doo-doo for forgetting about an obligation? Furthermore, when’s the last time you used the phrase "deep doo-doo?"
Already, I digress. What I mean to say is this: are you missing deadlines? Can’t find your Wastelands when you really need them? Did you forget to book a plane ticket for a GP until the price shot up $200?
Now, what if I were to tell you that better organizational skills could also improve your Magic play?
A Little Backstory
When I started freelancing alters and illustration, I constantly overscheduled myself. Excited to get work, I signed on for too much of it. Soon much of my time was spent pushing back deadlines on my to-do list.
Seeking a solution, I stumbled upon the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. It was lauded as a cult classic for the new business age, so imagine my surprise when it opened by quoting my jiu jitsu sensei.
Essentially, Allen’s argument is that our jobs have become more complex and all-consuming than ever. The boundary between home and work is blurry, so we have much more on our minds than the generations before us. When we’re at home, we think of work and vice versa.
Like many philosophies, I found that it applies equally well to other situations in life, including Magic. When you hear of a well-known philosophy, I urge you to attempt to find lateral analogues for it in different fields. You might just find a new perspective on your daily life.
Random Access Memory
Allen observes that when we have too much on our mind, we find ourselves at the whim of our fleeting attentions. Like a computer, we have a limited amount of memory, which we would call focus. When you use the Task Manager or Activity Monitor to see which programs are sucking up all your RAM (*cough*Magic Online*cough*), you’ll find a bevy of applications running on different amounts of memory. Essentially, the computer says, "Process X deserves Y percentage of my attention," and then it gives it the corresponding amount of RAM.
"Seriously, when are you going to talk about Magic cards?" you might ask.
Right now, gentle reader.
You see, Magic is a lot like the modern work environment. When you play the game, you have an incredible number of things to keep track of. It should come as no surprise that even pros forget to keep track of one characteristic every now and then. For some reason, people always seem to expect perfect play. In actuality, though, the very concept is an impossibility; there are so many variables and hidden information—and that’s before you consider the harsh reality that our concentration is limited.
Mind Like a Water Elemental
David Allen borrows an idea from martial arts: "mind like water."
When I studied jiu jitsu, my sensei would explain that you want to assume a mental state that is like the surface of a lake. When a stone falls into it, the water reacts instantly and with an appropriate amount of force; it doesn’t make a huge splash for just a small pebble. Afterwards, it assumes the same perfect calm it had before the stone fell. In martial arts (and in Magic), your mind should aspire to the same ideal. If you find yourself dwelling too much on an inconsequential detail, your opponent might see your inappropriate focus and take advantage of the situation.
For an extreme example, consider tilt: here, you’re so focused on a ship that has long since sailed you’re unable to give proper attention to the situation in front of you. This is exactly what you don’t want to do.
However, let’s look at it from a time-management perspective, because that’s how Allen has made such good use of the idea. If you have all these hundreds of ideas floating in your head, of course you’re going to be a mess.
Let’s say one of the things on your mind is "pick up eggs."
Because of the way memory works, you won’t just automatically remember to get eggs when you’re at the market. You might already be at the front of the rush-hour line, or perhaps even home, by the time "pick up eggs" crosses your mind.
But by then it’s not useful anymore. You’re not in a position to pick up eggs.
As a result, your brain keeps reminding you at various inappropriate times that you still haven’t gotten the eggs.
First of all, it’s a waste of energy to keep thinking the same thought over and over.
Second, this is merely one example. In life, there are hundreds of thoughts just like this that flit through our minds. Train a few of these together, and you can soon begin to feel an incredible pressure. You might even blame yourself for not getting the things done that you wanted to get done, as I did. The simple reason, though, is that you’re working with a bad system.
When is the last time you thought yourself in circles, only to arrive at a play you dismissed in an earlier iteration of the cycle? This is frustrating, but it’s simply a consequence of having too much on your mind. If you hope to remember everything, you give up control of when and how you’ll remember it.
A better strategy is to convert RAM into hard disk space. This means writing things down.
Instead of letting tasks float around in your head, you’ll have a list of everything you need to do right in front of you. You don’t have to access the list unless you’re available to work on it.
The first thing people notice when they convert to this system is the release of a huge burden. When you don’t have anything on your mind, you instantly feel more calm and in control. You don’t need to worry about what you’re forgetting if everything’s written down.
Putting Your Thoughts on the Table
You see, the more things you put in reliable places in front of you, the fewer things you need to worry about. When you Gitaxian Probe, do you always write down the cards? You should—that’s energy you won’t have to expend later when you’re busy worrying about the optimal play.
I keep meticulous notes about the game state, and some have recently asked about my method. I write down every card that my opponent plays, and if it’s a combat trick or something I need to play around I’ll denote this with an underline or asterisk. Sometimes I take notes on my own cards, but this is more for later reference; my cards aren’t as relevant to keep track of during the game.
You certainly don’t need to take as detailed notes as I do, but you should definitely cover the basics: tricks, bombs, and cards you know are in your opponent’s hand. Whatever you choose to do, know that it will actually hinder your play until it becomes second nature. However, I think the adjustment period is well worth the reward of having a clear view of your opponent’s cards while you’re sideboarding or otherwise deciding your plays.
Beyond notes, there are other ways to relieve the burden on your overworked brain. Some players put a die on top of their library to remind them of Rebound. This is pretty much analogous to the "important papers in front of the door" strategy that you use to make sure you don’t negate an entire day of work by leaving it at home.
Keeping your play area in a certain pattern can also help, but developing physical habits is another good practice. You want playing the game to be as frictionless as possible so that you can devote an appropriate amount of focus to each play consideration. There’s no sense in also trying to keep track of cards and life totals at the same time—that will needlessly reduce your total bandwidth.
The Natural Planning Method: An Exercise
Finally, Allen describes what he calls "the natural planning method." This is how your brain automatically sets out to accomplish a goal, so it’s most effective to strategize with this method to begin with. Otherwise you’ll be working contrary to your instincts and increasing friction.
1. Defining purpose and principles
What is the real reason you play Magic? To what lengths are you willing to go to win? If you don’t have a clear idea of why you’re playing, you can’t expect to give it your all.
Your principles are just as important to hash out as your purpose. They may be elucidated by finishing the sentence, "I would let someone play the entire tournament for me, as long as he…"
2. Outcome visioning
What is your ideal outcome? How does it look?
Imagining that you’re in the situation before it happens can help your brain come to terms with it beforehand. Athletes use this technique to improve their performance all the time. If you mentally put yourself in a feature match before you’ve had one, you might not find yourself quite so nervous when your name is called. The human mind is very interesting because it can learn nearly as much from a simulated experience as from a real one.
3. Brainstorming
What lessons have you learned from previous tournaments? What ideas do you have for preventing unsuccessful situations from happening again? Have you heard of any ideas you’d like to implement?
Brainstorming can give you a more active role in the learning process. Essentially Magic is all about learning, but if you take a passive role and expect it to just happen you’ll progress much more slowly. If you really want it, put in the work. And don’t be afraid to come up with a few silly ideas; that’s just part of the process. Brainstorming should be about volume, not quality.
4. Organizing
What needs to get done before you can play in the event? What time do you need to take off, what tickets do you need to book, and what money do you need to set aside? Do you have all the cards you need?
Figuring out what you need to do before you do it can make the process easier and more efficient.
5. Identifying next actions
This is the boring part. It’s about ordering the items you’ve defined in part 4 in manageable chunks or "next actions." Essentially it’s about making the physical things happen that you need to make happen in the most logical order.
However, this step is also important. If you’ve figured out all of your travel plans and packed food and water, it will make the actual tournament less demanding. When you’re at the venue, the only thing you should have to worry about is your play.
I performed this exercise on the plane to Austin. I found it helpful to clarify my goals and the physical actions necessary to achieve them. The envisioning also helped me achieve a mental state conducive to success.
To be honest, before winning the PTQ that qualified me for Honolulu, I wasn’t sure what role Magic should play in my life. Was I just going through the same motions because that’s what I’ve been doing for years?
If you find yourself thinking this way, you need to address it head on. You might stumble upon the answer eventually, but this is unlikely if your heart isn’t in it. You’ll find more success if you actively make things happen.
Be honest about what you want in life, because we can’t do everything and certainly not all at once. This is a tough lesson for a Renaissance nerd like me, but it’s crucial to success.
Do yourself a favor and really figure out the why and how. You might be surprised how quickly you’re rewarded.
@JackieL33 on Twitter