In the late '80s and early '90s, I took success for granted, winning four or five tournaments a year. I just expected to win them.
— Stephen Hendry
I enjoy commentating on the big tournaments for the BBC, the occasional exhibition match, and my business interests.
Did I have a mis-spent youth? I suppose I did in that I left school early without any qualifications, having bunked off a few times for tournaments.
If the World Seniors led to a place directly into the Crucible, then I would take it very seriously because to play there again would be incredible.
However much I try, I can't shake off the effects of the yips.
The crowd could be tough to deal with at times, but I learned to use them and the way they behaved towards me as strong motivation.
People often write to me, addressing the envelope, 'Stephen Hendry, Snooker Player' or 'Stephen Hendry, Scotland,' and it reaches me.
The thing is, with century breaks, maximums, ranking tournaments, these sorts of things are automatically going to be broken: it's not if but when.
The most I ever played was 12 or 13 tournaments. Now they're talking about almost 20, and it's all year round, playing through the summer as well.
In all the years I've been playing, I've never considered changing my cue. It was the first cue I ever bought, aged 13, picked from a cabinet in a Dunfermline snooker centre just because I liked the Rex Williams signature on it. I saved £40 to buy it. It's a cheap bit of wood, and it's been the butt of other players' jokes for ages.
I could have had eight or nine world titles at least, and you do think about that at times.
I still enjoy a wee game of poker now and then, but I'm not very good, and being Scottish, I don't like to lose that much money!
Judd Trump's bedrock of his game is potting good long pots, getting in, creating a chance, and winning frames at one visit.
In both snooker and poker, you have to play your best under pressure; I was always able to do that. I don't think it is something you can teach. Your mental strength, your confidence, your self-belief has got to be very strong. That is the common denominator.
Since he was born, Mandy and I have hoped to give Blaine a brother or sister.
I always loved playing in front of big audiences; now I'm jittery if one person is in the room watching me.
I can't overstate the part the yips played in bringing my career to a close.
The only way you can get confidence is by winning, and unfortunately, the only way you win is by being confident.
In any sport at the top level, if you don't put in the hard work, you can be sure someone else is. It is a vicious circle.
Going into a tournament with 100 per cent belief you will win it - that's how I've always enjoyed snooker.
It is quite surreal when you go to places up the north, like Inner Mongolia, and you are getting mobbed at the airport.
It's the worst feeling in the world - to lose in the first round at Sheffield and then have to go home - because it's such a long tournament, and it's hard to avoid it. It's on the TV all day every day, and if I lost, I didn't want to be anywhere near snooker.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the only player in history to be dominant and popular at the same time.
Judd Trump loves playing against the top players.
I tried hard to create my own records when a lot of them belonged to Steve Davis, so to see someone else beat yours, you'd be lying if you said there wasn't a twinge of regret there.
I never dreamed, when I received a small table for a Christmas present from my parents, I would have the career that I did or achieve so much.
The worst loss in my career - the 2002 World Championship final against Peter Ebdon.
I remember far more shots that cost me matches than the ones that won me matches. That is maybe the way you think if you are someone who has won a lot of tournaments and had a successful career.
When I started, there was never a great history of people doing well in snooker from Scotland. By chance, I got a table for my Christmas. If I hadn't got that, then none of this would have happened.
Even as a boy, my dad always told me, 'Don't show emotion.' If I banged my cue, he would give me a row and say, 'Stop that.' Don't show any petulance. It was developed, certainly, but I think you have got to have it in you.
I got into poker in the early 2000s. In snooker tournaments, you are always looking for things to pass the time between matches, so we'd play together, or I would play online.
The tip I would give is that once you play the shot, make sure your chin is touching the cue after you hit the cue ball.
In around 2000, I became aware of a recurring problem of the 'tightness' around my cueing action, which somehow stops me believing that I can play the shot - even shots I could previously play with my eyes shut.
It is just down to confidence. When I haven't got any, I hate playing the game.
Maybe I wish I could be out there on the big occasions playing like I did at my peak, but I certainly don't miss the six and seven hours a day practice that went hand in hand with being world champion in the nineties - or losing to guys knowing that it would never have happened when I was at my best.
When I didn't retain the world title after my first win, which no one's ever done, I was gutted and made my driver take me home straight away. We travelled through the night, and I didn't say a word all the way from Sheffield to South Queensferry.
I always liked to take on the middle pockets. They're much harder.
Even though I say to myself that I was seven-times World Champion, the voice in my head says, 'You can't play this shot.' It's completely mental - quite literally. My confidence is sapped every time this happens.
When you're young and you first come onto the scene, you're fearless. You just go for your shots and don't really think about the consequences. But as you play on through years and years, you get punished for those misses, and gradually, that leaves scars. It dents your confidence a bit.
There are times when there's been some discontent and muttered threats from audience members. I take no notice, and in any case, I always have John Carroll around to deflect unpleasantness.
I obviously know how good I was, and people refer to the modern game being tougher.
The seven world titles record I hold is the one that means the most to me. There is no doubt about that.
The best way to deal with aggression is to ignore it and try to get the match over as soon as possible.
The memories for the missed opportunities are stronger than for the ones I managed to get over the line in.
By the age of 14, I had stopped doing homework and stopped studying - as soon as I had any spare time, I was up to the local snooker club. I was fortunate my parents never forced me to stop playing snooker and told me to carry on at school. Nowadays, that probably isn't the best advice. I basically had nothing else to fall back on.
These days, you can watch many different sports; you are saturated with it 24 hours a day. And young boys all want to be footballers because you don't even need to be that good, and you can still earn £100,000 a week.
When I was playing Jimmy White in those finals, I could tell when he was under pressure.
Snooker is my sanctuary and always has been.
In snooker, it's very important to keep very still on the shot and allow the cue to do the work.
I think the word 'yips' trivialises it; it is completely debilitating, like a cancer spreading through your game and just destroying it.
