riding out the bad streaks

I went to Foxwoods to play in the morning tournament.
I was going to kill time playing in the 10/20 game, but there were none going, so I decided to sit 4/8 while I waited for the tournament to start.
Bad streaks happen, and one happened to me.
I sat down at 7 AM.
When they called for the tournament start, I was stuck $100 and hadn't won a pot. Since I wasn't feeling that the cards were running for me yet, I stayed put.
An hour later, they called the 10/20, and I was stuck 200, and still hadn't dragged a pot.
I was getting nothing playable, and the one time I had hit a hand (a flopped straight from the big blind holding 7,3o, I had been outdrawn on the river).
I decided to stay put, and make sure I was in the right frame of mind before moving up to 10/20. Roy West wrote, Play happy or don't play. And, while I wasn't unhappy, I wasn't jumping up and down feeling good.
And hour later, I finally dragged a pot. An hour after that, the cards had turned a bit for me, and I cashed out of the 4/8 game, stuck a little, but feeling confident about my play.
Then I went to the 10/20, and cleaned up. I was in the right frame of mind to play winning poker, and booked a few hundred dollar win.
When the cards aren't running, don't force it. Take a break, or play down a limit and figure out if it's just a streak of dead cards, a leak in your game, or what. But don't get bouncing your head off the wall when you're running bad, and don't move up to the bigger game, thinking it will be easier to beat for some reason. Your bankroll will thank you for it.