Exploring the plateau

At this stage, I feel like I have a sort of general understanding of how I can get better at things. I know I will improve, over the timescale of months, if I do something everyday, consistency being key. Improvement is sped up by pushing myself out of my comfort zone, surrounding myself with others trying to improve, and thinking consciously about my weaknesses. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but its a reliable recipe, applicable to both work and hobbies, mental and physical pursuits, creative and technical interests.

Less clear is how I should approach things that I don't quite have the time to be consistent in. I've been playing chess since college and play over the board maybe once or twice a year. The amount I play, if I play at all, fluctuates with life. I enjoy playing quite a bit, but it does take some motivation to queue a game or enter a tournament, and sometime there's no motivation left over after work/interests/relationships/logistics take their portion.

At some point at the tail-end of the pandemic, I played a lot online, worked with a coach a bit, entered a few tournaments in a row, and got a bit better. Since then, maybe ~2021, around the time I started grad school and recorded my stand-up special, I haven't really played very much, with spurts during holidays and long lulls when life is going very well or very poorly.

I'm entering my yearly tournament (US Amateur Team Tournament) this weekend, and did some tactics and played some games in preparation. I don't really think not playing has made me any better, but I have been thinking a little bit of what I want to work on this weekend. I'm used to being motivated by the simple goal of getting better, but for chess, where I don't quite have the time to play consistently, I wonder if I should be focusing on getting something else out of this.

When I was younger, I think the goal was always to overcome the plateau, but I think the reality of adult life is that for many things we will live a whole life on a plateau. This weekend, I'm sort of trying to explore it a bit. I don't think I'm going to magically play better, but I do want to play a little different. I'm going to try and not have long thinks. I'm also going to try and calculate my opponents good moves more... try not to be surprised by their next move so much. I also want to be okay simplifying... I don't think I've gotten an endgame over the board ever.

Excited to play chess this weekend!