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Going Pro Part II

Blogs > Liquid`TLO
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Liquid`TLO
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Germany767 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-20 13:34:00
April 20 2013 13:33 GMT
#1
[image loading]


Hello!
First of all I want to apologise having you made wait so long to continue my blog. Sadly I still am by nature a procrastinator, as much as I hate that part about me ...

So here's my update on how things are going, what has changed and how I feel:
Overall I'm pretty happy about my current situation (except I still don't have proper internet at my new flat, what a joke...) Spring is finally here and the sunny weather is giving me a lot of additional strength that I was lacking during Winter. Thanks to my new schedule I'm doing more sport than at any point in my adult life and probably even exercise more than I set out to. I haven't been following my routine hour for hour but it's proven to be a very good guideline to my training overall. I'm not someone who works that well following a schedule exactly as it is on paper, the most important is doing all the segments of it to me.

As long as I start the day properly. This shouldn't be toyed around with I think. A good balanced breakfast is extremely important to me. It usually consists of scrambled eggs or an omelet, yogurt with muesli and fruits, and bread plus ham or something similar. I notice I do much better all day when I actually take the time to prepare and eat my breakfast rather than just having a sandwich or rush it.

I'm capable of playing longer sessions without feeling uncomfortable. Even when I notice that I am getting tense I usually manage to relax again and any stress or pain related to that is gone in less than 5 minutes. My mind is more focused and I think I can bring my A-game to the table more often than in the past. However, I noticed that most of the time I have 1 outstandingly good session compared to the rest. I need to find out why I do better in that 1 session than in the others and recreate that environment for the other 1-2 sessions in order to maximize my training effort. Replacing 2-3 hours of highest focus with 6-9 can easily make my training twice as effective without actually playing more. A big point to help with that will be my diet, making it more regular and avoiding big meals that make me tired. I'll also try to have healthy snacks more often at my desk, which I can keep eating while playing in order to constantly replenish my energy levels.

One thing I am increasingly happy about is that my subconscious has been affected by my new gained confidence. When I was much younger I often literally dreamed about winning WCG, play the last game of the finals and miraculously defeat my much stronger opponent, that feeling screaming from the top of my lungs as I execute the winning move... opening the door of the booth and hearing the cheers of thousands of people. I don't know how it really is when you win that big, not yet. But in my dreams it's the most overpowering emotion known to me and it's addicting. When that happens and I open my eyes it fuels me for the rest of day.

I used to hate myself for being a very emotional guy because it makes my skill and behaviour very erratic, small things could pull me down, while just taking a walk through the forest on a sunny day can lift me up to happiness that can't be described as anything but bliss.
I realize now that I can use all of my emotions to my advantage. I'm melancholic. I like being sad sometimes, very sad even, but that's cool. One doesn't need a constant stream of elation in one's life to reflect on it and be happy. For me it's important to have strong emotions so I can mold them into motivation. My career as a progamer made me laugh, smile and gave me the best moments of my life, but it also made me scream in desperation and cry from disappointment. But most of all it has given me a sense of purpose and that dedication usually comes to light when I feel the most, no matter in what way. That's when I can see it all makes sense and lines up and I understand what I need to do and why.

Anger, especially, has often made me play faster and more focused, a friend of mine is even playing with the idea of finding ways to make me mad at tournaments, though, we're not sure yet if that would be productive or could backfire if it's done artificially. One of my favorite quotes is very relevant here:
''Anger is like gasoline. If you spray it around somebody lights a match, you've got an inferno.
But if we can put our anger inside an engine, it can drive us forward." - Scillia Elworthy (one of my favourite TED Talks by a remarkable woman: http://www.ted.com/talks/scilla_elworthy_fighting_with_non_violence.html )

I'm very excited for Dreamhack Stockholm and WCS. It'll be extremely crucial to use the coming week as much as I can to polish my game, but even more important to create a perfect situation for myself on the days of the tournaments, have the right kind of food ready, do some sport and get into a positive competitive mindset. The goal is to feel more confident and comfortable than anyone else in the tournament. Let me elaborate on that: basically, how I see it, being at a tournament gives players a modifier. Some people manage to play at 120% of the normal skill while others will plummet to 80%. I want to get that number as high as possible.
I used to get really sick at tournaments from being nervous, I learned that this is because of adrenaline not being properly pumped through my system. In nature there was no situation in which we wouldn't be in a very physical situation when adrenaline is released into our system. Our civilisation has created scenarios in which that is the case though: Exams, job interviews, presentations, fast driving, chess, SC2 tournaments and countless other situations. It's extremely important to take deep breaths and, if you have the opportunity, get your heart pumping. Get physical, go for a short run if you can, you'll feel so much better and now you can make use of that extra focus, strength, speed and increased reaction times.

All in all my biggest points to work on:
• Diet, avoid big meals that feel you sluggish and impair your ability to train
• increase amounts of sc2 while not cutting into any other activities that are important and crucial to my well-being
• Decrease procrastination on the Internet (it's not as bad as it once was, but there are a good amount of hours that I can free up for more useful and satisfying activities
• most importantly, become more analytic about my games, I'm an intuitive player but watching more replays won't hurt at all. Just watching 2-3 a day will only cost 15 minutes but could help a lot!

I've been posting decent results online, doing well in the ladder and won a bunch of showmatches, KOTH and online cups. So that's good and definitely progress, keeping my results, which are not yet impressive but at least consistent. The next challenges await and I honestly can't wait for the upcoming big tournaments!
That's it from me and see you at Dreamhack!
+


****
Team Liquidalea iacta est
tili
Profile Joined July 2012
United States1332 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-20 13:41:28
April 20 2013 13:40 GMT
#2
Yeeaaaaa, TLO!

Your stream is constantly good, and introduces me to great music (stephano and you are similar in this).
AND your mods played a clan war... which is sick cool ^^

edit:
I'm mad excited to see you at dreamhack.
WNxWebb
Profile Joined July 2011
United Kingdom2 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-20 13:43:59
April 20 2013 13:42 GMT
#3
Such a boss man, looking like you have your plans laid out :D

now to put them into action

go-go-go T-L-O!!!!!
KadaverBB
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
Germany25657 Posts
April 20 2013 13:44 GMT
#4
Good luck at dreamhack <3
Really like your blogs
AdministratorLaws change depending on who's making them, but justice is justice
Nightwishone
Profile Joined July 2012
Italy391 Posts
April 20 2013 13:51 GMT
#5
Way to go TLO :D Thanks for being such a constant ispiration.
TaeJa IS a bonjwa. TLO - Scarlett - Snute - MaNa - HerO - TeamLiquid fighting!
Gluon
Profile Joined April 2011
Netherlands386 Posts
April 20 2013 14:31 GMT
#6
Best of luck at Dreamhack, but be careful not to let results there influence your daily regime all too much!
Administrator
kollin
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United Kingdom8380 Posts
April 20 2013 15:51 GMT
#7
Love you TLO, keep it up! <3
4rChon
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
150 Posts
April 20 2013 17:04 GMT
#8
Your mentality is so inspiring. Your methodological way of approaching problems that at first glance seem out of our control offer a constant stream of progress. Thanks for being so awesome! Cheers!
WalkinDead
Profile Blog Joined February 2013
88 Posts
April 20 2013 17:12 GMT
#9
I like how you are trying to find ways for practicing more productively, and yes it does fall down into a mix of time management, motivation, and maintaining a healthy body.

For foods, I suggest fruits and veggies as snacks. As long as you have the extra cash to pay for it because its generally more expensive than processed foods like chips. Also there is no substitute to water!

As for your anger experiment, I think you should try to recreate the feelings that being angry create and if you are aware of how you feel when you are angry, it will be a lot easier to pick out the traits of that emotion that help you excel in your games
FalliNinLove
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
Slovakia865 Posts
April 20 2013 17:38 GMT
#10
I remember when I played WCGs. I never did very good because something was always wrong. Chairs were too low, monitors too bright, mouse had different sensitivity at home. I had very little practice for the last few days before tournament, or different things that killed my mindset.I always played different than in practice. I can understand how mindset, in tournament is super important and everything needs to go right. I recall, I was playing a game vs Stork and I lost like 10 mutas to a single archon. My hands were shaking so much and I just could not split them. This would never happened in practice. Never!!! Well, I am a big fan of your creative play-style.I wish you steady hands, and solid mindset. Good Luck!

Maix
HaRuHi
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
1220 Posts
April 20 2013 18:10 GMT
#11
I like what you said about breakfast and using anger as fuel, I am pretty emotional aswell and feeling sad and being ok with it is something to try.

Still, watching you play is horrific, as you said, you are an intuitive player, but sometimes that leads to strategical mistakes that gold league players would laugh about. I hope you do well, I think you need to learn how to play, instead of feel how to play, at least if you keep playing zerg.
Archile
Profile Joined June 2011
United States403 Posts
April 20 2013 18:56 GMT
#12
Nice blog, glad to hear you're doing well
one thing that I saw in your blog is that you're trying to recreate the environment of your best practice session so you can improve your practice. That is cool, but you need to make sure it's a mental environment and not a physical environment thing, because as said in day[9] daily 100, where day[9] tells his life story, he talks about how Froz always practiced in different environments, like different chair height, cold vs hot, etc, and that made him able to focus in any situation. Make sure you don't get too comfortable in your current physical playing environment, and focus more on having a better mental focus while you're playing

good luck,
Archile
Just a bad player trying to be a little less bad
Liquid`TLO
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Germany767 Posts
April 20 2013 19:11 GMT
#13
On April 21 2013 03:56 Archile wrote:
Nice blog, glad to hear you're doing well
one thing that I saw in your blog is that you're trying to recreate the environment of your best practice session so you can improve your practice. That is cool, but you need to make sure it's a mental environment and not a physical environment thing, because as said in day[9] daily 100, where day[9] tells his life story, he talks about how Froz always practiced in different environments, like different chair height, cold vs hot, etc, and that made him able to focus in any situation. Make sure you don't get too comfortable in your current physical playing environment, and focus more on having a better mental focus while you're playing

good luck,
Archile


It's good to be adaptive and it's something I work on as well.
You can create triggers that make you feel at home at tournaments. Like always eating the same food as in practice, do the same exercises and listen to your favourite music.
A Physical and mental environment is extremely connected one relates to the other. The whole separation of ''mental'' and ''physical'' is dangerous. They are different aspects of the same thing.

What really matters a lot though is to make your physical environment, as you say, a transportable flexible bubble that you can take with you anywhere you, which doesn't burst if things around you change. But that it just takes a slightly new shape that works just as well

Team Liquidalea iacta est
DenTenker
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United States606 Posts
April 20 2013 19:13 GMT
#14
Great blog TLO. These really give me an insight to your daily life and how you prepare for your events. There is some good advice in here that could apply to a lot of people. Just eating a good breakfast everyday has done wonders for me.

Great job and keep it up! Good luck at your upcoming tournaments! :D
If your all in didn't work, you didn't pull the workers.
blae000
Profile Joined April 2010
Norway1640 Posts
April 20 2013 19:25 GMT
#15
Such a good read, great blog TLO! Cheered you on in the very first zotac cups as random in the beta, will continue to cheer you and the rest of TL on! ^_^ Fighting~
Liquid
Heyoka
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Katowice25012 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-20 19:42:12
April 20 2013 19:27 GMT
#16
Awesome blog, love to hear the updates.

I swore I read some research years ago about concentration and how it's not possible to be at "peak" levels consistently for more than about 3-4 hour blocks, which is why effective training tends to be done in shorter blocks instead of 6-7 hours but I'm having a hell of a time finding it.
@RealHeyoka | ESL / DreamHack StarCraft Lead
shindigs
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States4795 Posts
April 20 2013 19:46 GMT
#17
I'd be really interested in a blog from you dedicated to how you see your physical state affecting your mental state when competing, and what exercise and diet you do to help yourself in that regard. Thanks for an awesome and unique update.
Photographer@shindags || twitch.tv/shindigs
AeryTL
Profile Joined March 2013
United States2 Posts
April 20 2013 20:35 GMT
#18
A tip for staying focused is to eat a tiny bit of something every 10 minutes like a raisin, seed or mint. It tells the brain you are getting constant energy. If u don't eat for a while the brain will try to conserve. Studies show this works for things like tests where you need to focus for a length of time.
NKB
Profile Joined February 2012
United Kingdom608 Posts
April 20 2013 22:46 GMT
#19
Good blog to read Interesting to see what things you do to make practice much easier and more relaxing for yourself
Some times you just gotta wish...
Aerisky
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
United States12129 Posts
April 21 2013 01:28 GMT
#20
Nice blog TLO. Good to see you're doing well and best of luck.
Jim while Johnny had had had had had had had; had had had had the better effect on the teacher.
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