Morning Marc
Tremendous write up.
Some feedback and then questions for you to consider and ask internally.
1) Find 3-5 races that you WON. Gather them together and be able to bring them up at will to "look at them" ok?
These are races where after you hit them you had a great sense of accomplishment in whatever matching techniques you did to get the winner.
Keep these as a positive model for your successful matching. I guarantee that when you look at them and ONLY them you will see patterns in both the race setups/makeups and matching patterns of your working of them.
Going forward:
When you are going to work races in earnest take 15 minutes prior and review these winning races A-Z. This is your positive primer to get you "thinking to win".
Now going "live" find those races that match the above and leave the others alone. If you have prepared your mind to win by doing that primer you will definitely RECOGNIZE the races when seeing them before they run.
Leave the other races alone. PASS
Now for some questions that you can ask and answer internally Marc. These are things that Jim would ask me.
FORGETTING the races themselves think back to the losing months of June/July ( I read what you wrote about "looking back" on lost races) and then your winning month of September:
1) What was going on in your personal/business/financial life in those months? What was different?
2) What was your environment surrounding you like(when you sat down to match races) in the losing months and then fast forwarding to the winning month? What was different?
3) Did you have a game plan during those losing months? Did you have a game plan during the winning month? What was different?
4) Did you work races the same time of day (night) during the bad and winning times? Or did something change?
On the above questions Marc the quieter the surroundings and quieter you can get your mind before asking the clearer and quicker the answers will come.
I think Jim would be very happy and proud that you shared your experience for others to read and learn from. Please allow me to help him by tipping his famous Stetson to you ok?
Thanks for sharing Marc and very best of matching luck/skill to you