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I have the time and the will to play 100+ games a week and I really really want to get to masters or higher. But why don't I? Ladder Anxiety. It's debilitating, I just can't hit that find match button. The sheer rush of adrenaline from just the thought of losing a game is insane.
But I finally fixed the problem without playing a single game. How? By changing my mindset and goals. I made losing games the goal of my daily play. I try as hard as I can to win and those wins feel great and well deserved, but I also set a goal of stopping playing after I lose 8 games in that day. If I lose all my games for the day, then I only play 8 games and that's fine. If I win games then I play more than 8. It means if I have an off day I don't play much but if I have a good day then I just play and play and play, and it feels great. Reaching that 8 loss mark for the day is a goal and achieving that goal feels like a huge win. It's the thing that I play for each day and every time I do it, it's an achievement because I know that every time I hit that 8th loss, I've fought and conquered my ladder anxiety. It feels like I'm improving and I'm actually playing games now and getting progressively better.
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That is an excellent way of getting those games in. It's not something you should be aiming towards permanently, of course, with the idea that once you are fine with playing daily, you can find other requirements?
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Oh yeah, this is totally not permanent but it gets me playing a lot of games and it's the only method I've tried that works. Furthur down the road other things could work like considering games won, even if I technically lost, by achieving goals like staying below X minerals all game or keeping CC energy below 125. Got those ideas from the great article on ladder anxiety in the first issue of GLHF magazine.
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I'm still putting off laddering because I think I got placed in the wrong league and I want to finish gold on all the challenges >.<
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I was so caught up in the fact that I was only in silver and thought that gold or platinum was far more respectable only stopped me from playing. Forget your league or rank. The system is completely rigged to make you lose and stay at a 50% win/loss rate. Make the simple act of playing games your goal and you will get to a higher league anyway.
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I have an alternative school of thought.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/Ddpwy.png)
However it is nice to hear you overcame your ladder anxiety. Ladder anxiety is silly.
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Ladder anxiety is indeed silly. Yet it affects so many people. Unfortunately, 'just start laddering' doesn't seem to work because it doesn't remove the fact that people are afraid to lose. That's why I came up with the idea of making losing = winning 
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On June 20 2012 11:48 Probe1 wrote:I have an alternative school of thought. However it is nice to hear you overcame your ladder anxiety. Ladder anxiety is silly.
According to your graph, it means that masters players should never post...?
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Its a joke. Like practically everyone that says they want to reach ____ goal, you're writing about it instead of doing it. I'm glad you've managed to break the ladder anxiety issue but its as simple as accepting that you suck and you will continue to suck.
Then bit by bit you become better and all of a sudden you're in masters getting shit on by things you've never seen before.
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Wow this works so well. Just finished playing some games and haven't actually lost yet. On a 5 game win streak and just beat a gold even though I thought I was bronze or silver. One more placement to go now.
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EPT
