EPTMost people hit a skill cap relatively early in their gaming careers, others much later - sometimes near the top of competitive gaming. Sadly, people tend to stay at their respective levels and improvements either come slowly or not at all.
It's my personal belief, a belief shared by many successful people, that with the right mindset anyone can accomplish their goals. Hard work in combination with honesty with oneself serve as the primary principles in improving and ensuring you never plateau.
I'm hoping through writing this, that it increases my chances of remembering these simple virtues thus enabling me to take advantage of them. I must admit I quite regularly practice all of them with the exception of diligence and temperance. I hope, through updating this blog regularly, that I enforce upon myself an expectation of excellence whose result can only be seen through the direct application of the virtues which I currently lack.
As always, I welcome any discussion about this blog post and furthermore implore you to incorporate the following into your current mental training.
Good gaming.
Chastity
"Cleanliness, through good health and hygiene. Being honest with oneself as well as others."
Cleanliness is often overlooked by gamers. Having better physical and mental health enables you to more easily reach and stay at your full potential.
Being honest with yourself allows you to correctly assess your mistakes and improve. Being dishonest with yourself only hinders your potential growth.
Example: Many professional gamers regularly exercise, increased blood flow and higher oxygen levels directly correlate to faster reactions and a clearer thought process thus facilitating a higher standard of play.
Temperance
"Self-control. Self-awareness. Will power."
Self control is important in controlling one's emotions. Being full of emotion leads only to hastily made decisions which often times are based on emotion rather than known information.
Will power and self control contribute directly to your ability to be successful. Without will power to practice hours upon hours you will never get what you want.
With temperance: you will never pre-emptively leave a won game, or rush blindly hoping for a coin flip win. You will be in charge of your emotions and will make decisions using only known information thus drastically increasing your chances of making the proper decision.
Example: This is a virtue that is better displayed when it is missing. However, I'd rather not talk negatively about players and will leave it to the imagination of the reader. Just visualize any player with no self-control that is quite often bad-mannered, or a player that is unfortunately lacking the will power to practice and letting their immense talent go to waste.
Charity
"Generosity. Giving freely without expecting anything in return."
Being charitable doesn't mean the donation of physical goods or cash. It could be something as simple as donating time, such as the case with streaming for charity.
Generosity pays for itself. Without the fans, there is no legitimacy in eSports, give something back to the world in a manner which would bring honor to those that enable you to have an outlet for your abilities and passions.
Example: TLO, Sheth, and Destiny have all streamed for charity, donating thousands of US dollars. Charity can also be seen on the streams where streamers refuse to play a commercial after a poor or quick game.
Diligence
"Work ethic. Never giving up. Upholding one's convictions."
A virtue many appear to be lacking. When questioning Bruce Lee about being forced to push himself too hard during a run, Bruce Lee responded telling John Little “Because you might as well be dead. Seriously, if you always put limits on what you can do, physical or anything else, it’ll spread over into the rest of your life. It’ll spread into your work, into your morality, into your entire being. There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level.”
Never, never give up. Take breaks if you need, but be aware that when you are taking a break there is always someone out there working hard to be better than you and everyone else. Believing in yourself is key in success. Many people will laugh or belittle you when you tell them you want to be, or already are, a professional gamer. Do not let skeptics influence your desires, but heed their criticism if it's valid.
Be diligent and you will always accomplish your goals.
Example: HuK began his rise in popularity in the beta of StarCraft 2 and was constantly dismissed by higher skilled players as someone who would never amount to anything. Through his constant hard work he has risen to the top of both the foreigner and the Korean scene - a feat not often performed by foreigners despite many trying. HuK's hard work is concrete evidence that hard work pays off no matter what your goal is.
Patience
"Resolving conflicts and injustice peacefully."
Patience in all things. Whether you are dealing with a poor tournament administrator or a player being disrespectful, always be patient. Patience allows you to keep your emotions under control and a lack of it only serves as a distraction in every situation requiring it.
Specific to gameplay however patience plays another role, often times a player will lose a game they could've continued in without issue had they been patient enough to rally more units to defend or attack. Patience is key in timing and in StarCraft 2 timing is everything.
Example: There is no better display of patience in StarCraft 2 than that which Nestea constantly displays. He's willing to sacrifice buildings, bases, and workers if that's what it takes to defend an attack that would normally kill most players. Patience is the defining characteristic when describing Nestea, as he is also patient in what he builds - often relying on scouting information and lack of information to make decisions, he does almost nothing blindly.
Kindness
"Having positive outlooks and cheerful demeanor; to inspire kindness in others."
Kindness never hurt anyone. You are much more likely to attract practice partners and potential sponsorships if you are well known as someone that is kind and likable than someone mean spirited and constantly hostile.
Being kind generally means you're inherently calm. Being calm, free of emotion or outside influence, is extremely important in playing your absolute best.
Example: Almost all the players of Liquid all have this quality, perhaps the most known for his kindness is Sheth. Team Liquid is often times viewed as what a team should aspire to be, this virtue is one huge reason why.
Humiility
"Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less. It is a spirit of self-examination."
By being humble we are capable of looking at our play without the fog of conceit clouding our judgement. Properly being able to examine your own play and personal characteristics is fundamental in improving and growing.
It takes a lot for some people to admit they aren't as good as another player, but this acknowledgement in your personal ability is necessary in improving quickly. When you admit your failings, your room for growth drastically expands and growth occurs exponentially faster.
Example: The humility displayed by WhiteRa is so sincere and so regularly seen that he is widely regarded as one of the most well known positive role models for competitive gamers.
Props for that !
