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There is a certain point that everyone gets to. Your losing a lot, mostly to the same things, over and over again. Am I making bad decisions? God my micro is terrible. Supply capped again... how do you do it all at once? Doesn't seem fair.
But you grind it out. Hours of practice. Watch your replays over and over again. Play the ladder until you can hardly contain the rage. Your trying so hard. Doesn't seem to be helping. Thinking about quitting all the time. Is the game that important to me? Probably be happier if I just went outside. Took a jog. Maybe played a different game.
The next day, you log on anyway. Keep on playing. Keep on practicing.
Then something subtle happens. Your not sure when, but something changed. Not anything big. Your not winning every game. But your money...its low now. Almost all the time. Your making correct decisions without thinking about it. Your beating people better ranked then you. Not ever game. But sometimes, for a moment, you play just a little better than them.
You find yourself in strange situations, and you know what to do. A crazy base race goes your way this time... and the next time too. Barely hold off and all in that you should have lost to. Was that... good micro? It must have been. How did my opponent have so few units? Or maybe... they have the same they always did. I just have more.
The game feels differently. Instead of just trying to keep up, suddenly you find yourself with time to think...time to invent. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works big. When you did it, there was a certain feeling you got... like you knew the whole time it would.
In a moment, the realization dawns on you. I've gotten better.
You might still lose. You might still be stuck in whatever league your are. You might lose to many of the same things. But the realization in that moment... that you tried your best and now you are better for it... the most incredible satisfaction. All the frustration, all the anguish, all the hours put in, and now you can see how far it has got you. Whats more, you get a glimpse of how far you could go. The game seems under your control now. As for all the problems you still have? Not a big deal. They seem manageable. Conquerable. Beatable.
Just need to practice.
 
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Touching 
I love the feeling!
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Great blog. I remember a while back when my friend and I were playing SC2, and I just suddenly said to him in-game: "Hey, my money is actually low now off 2 bases." And he said "Me too." And we suddenly realised we WERE better, we HAD improved, since just a couple of weeks ago we never would have been able to do that. We still think we're terrible, and we are...but we DO improve, and I always try to keep that in mind
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Really great blog, reminds me of when i used to be mid master, practicing several hours a day, but did not get any better for weeks. Then one day i just started winning and winning and winning. I got to high master in like 4-5 days, and started to play GM player on the ladder. Really a great feeling (:
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I know that feeling.
If you want go get better faster though, you can do better than ladder. Get some the best players you can find that are happy to beat you again and again and do that the whole day.
I did this today, and I lost every single game. But it wasn't on ladder. just customs and then when I did hit the ladder I won every single game. I still felt liek a scrub, I still saw myself making mistakes. But I had an edge, I was reforged by my losses into a sharper force to be reckoned with.
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Holy shit, man. Chills..CHILLS.
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5/5. Don't give up. Keep grindin', keep workin'. If only more people had this attitude.
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Very inspiring blog, actually saving this to make sure I come back to it time and time again.
It isn't from winning, it isn't from ranking up, the pleasure should truly be that you are becoming better with your practice and the game becomes fluid as water, rather than bulky with stops and starts like an avalanche.
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On January 01 2012 07:04 TG Manny wrote:
Very inspiring blog, actually saving this to make sure I come back to it time and time again.
It isn't from winning, it isn't from ranking up, the pleasure should truly be that you are becoming better with your practice and the game becomes fluid as water, rather than bulky with stops and starts like an avalanche.
I agree. If you make sc2 about winning you are going to get frustrated and quit, or drive yourself crazy.
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This post is in itself more then enough reason to bump it up.
As I recently abolished ladder anxiety, I find this post to hit the nail. It took a miracle for me to finally leap out of ladderfear. Now I can open stargate, and everything can go wrong regardless. I sent my oracle over to kill probes, I even saw his Templar Archives that did not research anything, but I didn't think about it lol. Then I noticed 4 DT's in base, while my two oracles was at his base. I just sent it back cleaning it up, all while being calm. My friend who is besides me and sees this, tells me "holy shit you are calm, I would scream and go nuts".
I dont even have a gameplan anymore, but stuff just keeps going my way regardless. Even if they dont, I dont care. It is all about the passion and being in the joy. I one morning got cheesed 3 times in a row and lost. I dont seem to mind. I can look at a solution to the cheese without anger and frustration. So good.
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EPT
