Whether in sports, business or other areas of life, successful people distinguish themselves primarily through their mental attitude. In esports it´s no different. The mentality decides to what extent the player exhausts his potential and how quickly and effectively he improves his skills. In this article we show you what a winner mentality in esports is all about.
Work ethic
If you want to become an esports pro or just want to improve your skills effectively, you can’t avoid doing things that are not fun. In order to improve yourself, you will have to spend weeks learning certain mechanics or other aspects of the game (e.g. heroes, playing styles, tactics) that may not suit your personal style or expectations, and that may simply bore you after thousands of repetitions. Of course, the easy way is to drop the training and just go back to the fun part of the game. The one who has the “winner gene”, however, has only one thing on his mind: to improve and get the best out of himself. Only if you push yourself every time and keep practicing you will reach your full potential and see how far you can go and how good you can become.
Training approach
Clear goals
Before you start reading tutorials on specific mechanics or specific strategies, you need to understand that the absolute basis for effective training is your attitude. To develop the right mentality, it is important to identify your goals as soon as possible. Do you just want to have fun and need a distraction or do you really want to become incredible at the game? If you want to get better as soon as possible, you should not “just play” a game, but rather approach it with the attitude of wanting to improve and pursuing your goals with all you got.
Concentrate on yourself
To ensure optimal training, you must approach each of your moves with full concentration. You have to constantly try to play at your absolute limit. If you work on certain mechanics, do so with full attention and constantly analyze yourself. When you train with other players, always look for your own mistakes, even if it´s obvious that your opponent is the one to blame. Always ask yourself how you could have done better, how you could have prevented and resolved the situation in a better way. Be completely in the moment when you practice, without any distractions. Only you are responsible for your performance and your skill.
Break out of your comfort zone
If you want to learn something new, you have to realize that you will only learn something new if you do something different. If you constantly stay in your comfort zone, you will not learn anything new and as a result not improve yourself. You have to challenge yourself and try. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid to try new things and incorporate them into your game. Making mistakes is part of getting better.
Winning is important – but not at the beginning of your journey
Especially as a beginner, winning games should not be your priority. Instead, concentrate on improving your skills and giving your absolute best. Don’t worry about winning or losing for now. Consider defeat as a necessary development aid. If you don´t worry about winning or losing you will more likely break out of your comfort zone and pay more attention to yourself. With this attitude, you will learn game mechanics much faster, improve your game and ultimately win more often. Improving your skills must be your first priority. The following table summarizes the differences between “playing” and “effective training”:
“Playing” | “Effective Training” |
|---|---|
No specific or clear goals. Having fun has the highest priority | Goal-oriented practice of different aspects |
low concentration, distractions by friends or environment | high concentration, full focus on the game |
Winning is more important than improving | Improvement stands about everything |
Staying in the comfort zone, Fear of mistakes | Breaking out of comfort zone, Use of mistakes for improvement |
Mental control
Dealing with stress
Mental control plays an important role in many facets of esports. Everyone knows famous moments when certain players turned around an absolutely hopeless situation with a single ingenious move, and thus lead themself and their team from certain defeat to victory. There are players that just seem to keep their cool even under the most difficult conditions and greatest pressure. They execute the most difficult mechanics and micro-movements in the most natural way, regardless of the situation. Dealing with stress and reaching the pinnacle of your skill and concentration in stressful moments is an incredibly strong skill, that can be worked on by yourself in every game that you play, by always trying your best and never giving up.
Dealing with frustration
Besides dealing with stress, mental control also includes dealing with frustration. As a player you are constantly confronted with frustrating moments, be it because of a bad performance, bad teammates or a losing streak. In these situations it is incredibly important to control yourself and not fall into anger and rage. You have to realize that all the fuss is absolutely useless and does not improve the situation in any way. If you can calm yourself, analyze the situation with a cool head and concentrate only on yourself, you can learn something new from almost every situation and thus contribute to the development of your abilities.
Conclusion
All in all, a player who wants to improve at any cost in esports is not different from professional sportsman in traditional sports. If you want to improve, you have to invest time, give it your all and overcome your limits. To maintain discipline, the mentality is crucial. Your attitude determines whether you really pursue your goals or just talk about them.
